


The Wolf Time

by Anzer_ke



Category: Worm - Wildbow
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 07:16:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 71,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7675135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anzer_ke/pseuds/Anzer_ke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a wolf in all of us</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Runt - 1

* * *

 

_The Wolf Time_

 

Fur felt a lot like hair. Or was it just that they both felt about the same when they were soaked red and sticky? She couldn't focus well enough to say, not if she was going to keep moving with the unfamiliar familiarity of four legs and joints that bent the wrong -right- way. Well, more like three and a half legs with her right wrist -ankle- in the state it was.

The nudity definitely felt weird, as well as horribly uncomfortable in the late winter air. Her layered coatings of fur and blood weren't doing much to keep the wind from chilling her to the bone and with night falling it was only going to get worse. The dim alley she was limping down had turned out to be far from the shelter she'd hoped for, more like her own personal wind tunnel. Her attention occupied by her thoughts, she didn't notice her body tilting to the right until she tipped too far and fell. She tumbled into a trashcan with a choked yelp at the clash of metal against the shaft sticking out of her flank, the latest scabs coming apart in a fresh well of blood.

Judging by the sloppy avalanche of garbage that accompanied her pain, the bin must have been overflowing. The smell was horrendous, worse even then-

Taylor shook herself out of the memory despite the pain and exhaustion and forced her body back to those feet she could stand on.

Some detached part of her mind noted that she was showing symptoms she vaguely remembered as signs of serious blood loss but the thought felt distant and unimportant compared to the need to get away. To hide and run. She had to keep moving. If the heroes caught her...

She had to keep moving.

* * *

 

They hadn't given her a choice.

The bitches three had made it abundantly clear that they were never going to stop. Keeping her isolated and alone hadn't been enough. Mocking her hadn't been even close to enough. Nor had taking her dearest keepsake of her mom. Even stuffing her in that- that place, putting her in the hospital to nearly die from a dozen major infections had not been enough for them. Instead it had only spurred them on.

He misery had turned to fear after that. After she realised just how willing they were to injure her it had been obvious where it was all heading. Sooner or later they were going to go just a little too far and she was going to die. They were going to kill her and no one would even try to save her.

She could barely sleep and she struggled to eat. At school she hid at every opportunity, skipping classes to huddle in what dark corners they didn't already know about. When they found her in the third floor bathroom it had been her sobbing that gave her away through the stall door.

Crying while they gave her a juice shower had been humiliating but it was the knowledge that her last hiding place was gone that broke her.

She couldn't do it any more. Couldn't keep dragging things out day after day. One way or the other she just wanted it to be over.

So three days later she had smuggled a kitchen knife into school tucked in the waist of her jeans. Walking through the broken metal detector had almost made her smile, the first time Winslow High's apathy had been to her benefit. She hadn't planned to use it of course, but Taylor had no illusions about her chances in a straight fight if her tormentors decided to mob her. A weapon gave her an out if things got too bad.

She hadn't gone anywhere near class, straight to the bathroom to wait for the inevitable. It hadn't been a long wait, the recess bell had barely stopped ringing when the door swung open to admit Emma, Sophia and Madison with assorted faceless extras. The number of witnesses hardly mattered, the faculty would have believed them over her regardless, so she steadied her nerves and clenched her fists just like one of her dad's friends had shown her, back when she still knew how to smile.

Emma had stepped forward by herself, smiling at her and opening her pretty little mouth to say who knew what. It definitely would have been horrible though, so Taylor punched her before she could say it.

Emma's lip burst in a spray of blood and for a few glorious moments she wondered if she might actually be able to win. Then her former friend came right back at her with fury in her eyes and a left hook that had her head ringing. She'd managed to get her arms in the way of the next few blows and was looking for an opening when a bag slammed into her side. Hard.

The distraction was enough for Emma to grab her shirt and throw her into the middle of the room with a tearing sound that Taylor didn't notice because Sophia was right beside her and fucking intimidating. Of course it was one of the faceless extras who took the opening while she ignored them. The lackey kicked her in the back to send her sprawling across the floor.

Growing up in Brockton Bay, Taylor knew what happened to people who got knocked down in fights with gangs. In that moment all she could think about was not dying on a bathroom floor stinking of piss and bleach.

So in a surge of panic she had grabbed for the knife. She fumbled the handle once, twice, then got a grip on it right as Sophia planted a foot so deep in her gut it must have bruised her spine. Her eyes clenched shut and she swept the knife wildly in front of herself as she groped for a sink to pull herself up, trying not to vomit at the hollow ache in her stomach. When she finally got her feet under her and her breath back in her lungs she drew her knife hand back and forced her eyes open.

She hadn't expected all that much. Armed or not, she wasn't exactly intimidating even when she wasn't bruised and wearing a badly torn sweater. Still, it had seemed certain that a knife would make them back off for a while at least. Maybe even scare off some of the followers. Instead she opened her eyes to find a room full of grins. Sophia and Emma smiling widest of all.

They were all well out of her reach and she could see lines of tension on a face or two, but no one was leaving. If anything they were getting closer, Sophia especially was near enough that Taylor thought she might be able to cut her. Cut her again, since one of her panicked slashes had opened up a shallow cut on Sophia's calf. So she was probably getting expelled.

A faint hope rose up in her chest that getting expelled might be enough for them to leave her be. She just had to get out of the bathroom and maybe this would all be over. She could do that, she just had to clear a path and leave.

Gesturing to the door with the knife Taylor said, "G- get out of my way. I'm leaving."

Nobody moved. Ones of the extras near the door giggled nervously.

Stepping forward she kept the knife steady this time and glared as she said, "I don't want to hurt anyone. S- so go away and-"

She barely saw Sophia move. Just a dark blur then she was upside down and slamming into the floor. She managed to hold onto the knife but she could feel a strong grip on her wrist and before she could struggle there was an enormous crack and someone started screaming.

It wasn't until a kick took the air from her lungs yet again that she realised it was her. Her wrist was the grinding centre of an entire world of pain. Her head snapped back with a kick that shattered one lens of her glasses. The kicks kept coming and Taylor realised she was going to die on a bathroom floor after all. She'd brought it on herself when she dared to try and escape them. Obviously the world hated her too much to allow it.

Now she was going to die and they'd tell whatever story they felt like about how the crazy loner girl came at them with a knife and they defended themselves. She'd be the bad guy and they'd be the brave kids getting comforted for their ordeal. They'd never be known as the bitches that they really were-

**DESTINATION**

_AGREEMENT_

_TRAJECTORY_

**AGREEMENT**

She caught the next kick, it hurt so badly that she nearly blacked out, but she caught it. Then she pressed her hands tight to the bare ankle of whoever the fuck it was and made her stop. The change was floating just below the surface of the girl's skin, a form that wouldn't be able to kick her any more. A moment more and the girl was shrinking, twisting in her clothes as she fell to the ground.

By the time Taylor realised it had been Emma's ankle she caught, her one time friend was already finished her transformation into a small reddish terrier-looking thing. One thin leg still grasped in Taylor's hands before she snatched them away like it was on fire.

Tearing her eyes away from the impossible sight, Taylor finally noticed the kicks had stopped and looked around for her attackers, half her vision a blur. Instead of the dense mob she found a wide ring of girls surrounding her, all of them frozen in place with expressions of simple horror fixed on her. All but one – Sophia.

Where the rest of her tormentors stood, Sophia was picking herself up off the floor. Where they trembled, Sophia was absolutely steady. Where they were so obviously terrified Sophia just looked almost mad with anger, fists clenched white at her sides.

It was only when Taylor looked back down to the whimpering dog clumsily scrambling out of a pile of clothes and trying to drag itself away from her that she understood just why they were all staring at her. She had turned Emma Barnes into a dog. She had touched her and picked out a form and reshaped the evil bitch to it.

_'I'm a Cape.'_

There was none of the triumph that she had always thought would accompany that thought. She hurt everywhere, more than she had ever hurt before. She just wanted to leave the bathroom and the school and the bullies and never ever come back. Somehow she didn't think Sophia would be willing to move aside and let her. Unfortunately the power to make people into dogs with a touch wasn't going to let her beat Sophia any more than the knife had.

There was something else though. She wasn't touching anyone now but she could still feel the forms from before. Under her own skin just like they had flowed beneath Emma's. Belatedly she realised that it wasn't just dogs, there was more than just that. Enough that maybe she might be able to beat Sophia after all.

She flexed her uninjured hand and there were claws tipping each of her fingers, Sophia's eyes darted to the change and the other girl took a slow step back. The movement broke the stillness in the room and suddenly everyone but her, Sophia and Emma were fleeing the bathroom as fast as their legs could carry them. Sophia paid them no mind other than to snatch Emma's diminutive new form off the ground and pass her off to Madison as the smaller girl made her escape.

Sophia didn't retreat after them, instead opting to sink into a casual fighting stance. Taylor didn't know much about martial arts but it looked practised, which probably meant that attacking her was exactly what Sophia wanted her to do. So she mirrored Sophia's stillness and turned her focus inward as much as she dared.

Taylor took the chance to pick through the sea of possibilities and decide on the best form to use. After a momentary indecision she focused on strength, adjusting her choice of form for as much of the attribute as possible while holding off on changing physically just yet. Given she had no hope of winning based on skill, brute force seemed the way to go. Though she quickly realised the danger of going as high as her forms seemed able to and dialled it down a bit. Killing Sophia wouldn't make her life any easier.

Where Emma had taken time to shift, her own body flowed like water. The change started and finished between one breath and the next, even as she could pick out each component of it. Limbs thickened and compressed then thickened again, the claws tipping them grew long and sharp. Her height shot up several inches and her shoulders broadened noticeably, her hips slightly less so. Most shocking was the thin fur that sprang up across her body as her face changed in ways she didn't understand but which felt fairly drastic, especially the teeth. Even facing a complete psycho like Sophia she barely held back from turning to look in the mirror.

"Could you get any more pathetic Hebert? Even with powers you don't have the guts to fight me," Sophia broke the silence, a frustrated edge to her voice despite the obviousness of her ploy.

Hoping she wouldn't bite her tongue off with her new teeth, Taylor taunted right back, "I'm just worried I might break you too easily."

Her voice came out different, slightly deeper and a lot stronger than she had spoken in months. It was easy to get out the mocking words where just last week she had struggled to get an insult out under her breath after one of their pranks. Like some kind of barrier had broken and every feeling she had learned to hold back was surging free.

Right at that moment, those feelings were mostly various flavours of anger at the smirk that had spread across Sophia's face following her words.

"Break me huh? You should be more worried about yourself, you've really got no idea what you're doing."

"And you do? Sophia you can talk all you want but you and I both know yo-"

Pushing off the ground with everything she had, Taylor threw herself into a punch with her good hand aimed at Sophia's chest. She'd attacked mid-word hoping to catch her opponent off guard.

Unfortunately there must have been some kind of tell because Sophia slid smoothly out of the way. She didn't even look surprised by it.

Spinning to face Sophia again, Taylor threw another punch to the exact same effect. Then again and again. Each time she charged, Sophia dodged as easily as if she'd known what she was going to do before she did it, the fight amounting to little more than Taylor chasing her smug quarry around the bathroom while she had insult after insult hurled her way.

"Can you even see me with those stupid glasses all smashed up?"

Her punch slammed into a dryer instead of Sophia's teeth, leaving a deep dent in the metal.

"Maybe you're just too stupid to hit me? You need to swing that thing on the end of your arm into me, you dumb cow."

Taylor obliged and her swipe obliterated a stretch of plasterboard. The follow up left shallow claw marks in one of the sinks.

"Wow, I'm not sure if there's even a word for someone as useless as you."

Sophia managed to land a kick to her back as well as dodging that time. It hurt. Overbalancing and demolishing two of the stalls on her way through them hurt worse, badly jarring her wrist. Scrambling out of the mess Taylor closed her good hand around a thin column and held back a smirk of her own.

"Maybe it's 'cause you're using your left hand? Pity I already broke your other fucking wrist, Hebert."

Taylor turned and swung yet again. Except this time she was holding a long metal bar torn from the frame of the stalls. Sophia slid out of the range of her arms and right into the path of the makeshift polearm, a gasp tearing from her lips as she realised her mistake.

What came next stopped Taylor in her tracks.

The bar didn't meet any of the expected resistance from Sophia's ribs. Instead it passed right through the dark mist that Sophia had...turned into.

_'She's a Cape too!'_

They stared at one another for several breaths. The cloud and the monster. Then the clatter of her pole falling to the floor cut through the tension and started the world spinning again.

Still Taylor barely noticed Sophia turning back to normal and hopping back several steps, because now her thoughts were moving again something about Sophia's powers was nagging at her. Lost in her thoughts, it was Sophia that broke their shared silence.

"Heh, well done Hebert you pathetic little shit. I was trying to be nice but now you're really fucked. You should have stayed down on the floor where trash belongs."

The words washed over Taylor to little effect -she'd heard so much worse from her tormentors- but the tone pierced right to her core. Sophia didn't sound worried. Her identity had just been discovered and she sounded like just as much of an arrogant cunt as ever.

_'I don't have to take her shit, not any more.'_

Out loud she found that the shock had not destroyed her new found confidence. The words still came out strong and clear, "Even you cannot be this deluded Sophia. I know your face, I know your powers. How the hell do you think this ends well for you?"

The confident look didn't waver. Sophia's smile only got wider as she reached one hand into a back pocket and pulled out something flat and rectangular, wrapped in black cloth.

She began unwrapping it, one fold at a time, so unhurried that anyone would think she had all the time in the world. Taylor found herself enthralled by the theatrics despite herself, wondering what the hell could be giving the bully the confidence to face her down so brazenly.

Finally it was done. Sophia whisked aside the cloth -unfolded it looked to be a thin balaclava- and revealed a phone, coloured deep blue with gold detail. She turned it on, but Taylor recognised it before the screen lit up with a crest and lots of official text. After all, you saw them on the news every time a cape gave a press conference.

Protectorate Identification, they said that every one was tinker tech...of course Sophia could have just stolen it, gotten around security measures somehow...but...

_'I've seen her power before. The...the new ward...all the news coverage last September...'_

Sophia had tugged on the balaclava while she'd been lost in her own thoughts. The bitch hadn't even taken the opening, just standing across the bathroom from her without a care in the world. The smile was hidden now, but Taylor could feel it still. Like it was burning into her face.

_'No! This can't be right! She can't be-'_

"I'm Shadow Stalker. Proud member of the Brockton Bay Wards, and you just tried to kill me at my school..."

_'She is.'_

Sophia kept talking, Taylor couldn't hear her.

Her world shrunk to a narrow tunnel between her and Sophia. Blood was pounding in her ears but her body felt cold. Numb. All the feeling drained out of her and for a moment she wondered if it would ever come back.

Then she felt the rage.

She reached deep into the flow of shapes inside herself, grabbing for those that she had held back from before. Then she cast them aside. The flow went deeper and she wanted more strength, she wanted the power to smear Sophia across every wall in the building. Diving into the forms Taylor found everything growing hazy around her even as the river of forms became on ocean, stretching to infinity beneath her.

Pressure mounted against her as she pushed down, not simply forcing her back up through the forms but crowding in around her as well. Compressing her thoughts into a smaller and smaller space, muddling what thoughts she could still fit into her mind. All her thoughts were unimportant anyway. Why think when you could feel?

The pain on her jaw was distant, as was the impact of her back with the floor. Taylor opened her eyes and stopped her futile attempts to delve deeper into the forms. What she had was enough. It washed over her as she stood and fixed her gaze on her prey.

It seemed to be shrinking, along with the room they stood in. No matter.

Taylor roared.

Everything after that was a blur of motion and pain.

* * *

 

Limping through the streets some eternal hours -days, weeks, years, centuries?- later, Taylor found herself still living in a world of pain, the motion had slowed a great deal though.

She wormed her way in amongst some old shipping pallets leant against a wall, it wasn't her first hiding place though they all swirled together when she tried to remember specifics. It would do for a while, not for long or they might catch up to her, but for long enough. Enough time to try and sort out the jumble in her skull at least.

Taylor had always had a good memory, so it was a shock to reach for the memories and find them out of her reach. Most of what little was there amounted merely to the vague impressions of some frantic animal.

Those memories of the fight she could grasp were scattered snapshots.

Tearing through walls and floors and finding only frustration as her quarry bit at her back again and again.

Colour and light and shouting as her prey's allies came to its aid, with her mind clouded only by blood loss Taylor could deduce the fuzzy memories as being several of the Bay's heroes coming to her bully's aid.

More pain, until she'd understood it was futile and she'd fled.

Shrinking to make a smaller target had been instinctive, but it had given her back enough awareness to make a plan, and enough of her mind to remember it now. The largest dog -though it was probably much more wolf than dog- that she could find in her forms had given her a tiny lead on the pursuit. Then she'd rounded a corner and shifted to the smallest form she had without slowing down.

An old storm drain that she must have walked past a million times in her life had become an escape route for her tiny form. The bolt in her side had clinked off the bars though, then made contact again with the ground during her awkward landing. Pain had her retching and vomiting as quietly as she could manage, then she had limped away before the heroes thought to look in the drain.

_'That was...it was...'_

Marshalling her knowledge of what happened had not brought any clarity to the time between. Taylor tried to think it through logically, her side had healed over a few times but it still bled sluggishly since she kept jarring the bolt and tearing it back open. How much blood could she have lost? How long would that have taken?

A passing siren yanked her back to her feet, choking back a yelp at the pain from...everything really.

Taylor tried to shuffle out of the pallet she had sheltered amongst. Sirens meant that the heroes were close, or might be close. Either way she had to move but a lance of agony informed her that the bolt had slipped between two of the slats. She shuffled forward to try and get it out, then everything went red for a moment and she came back to herself with a yelp echoing around the alley.

The bolt had caught as she tried to get it free, pulling the shaft out of her body and the head along with it. The coolness of damp asphalt informed her that her legs had given out at the pain.

Taylor wasn't sure if she had the strength to get up again.

_'I...'_

It wasn't comfortable on the ground, but it wasn't much of anything else either. Everything seemed distant.

...The pain...

.

.

.

...The misery...

.

.

.

...The emptiness...

.

.

.

...The damp spot pressing into her back...

_'What...what...is...that?'_

Turning her head was an effort, but not the impossibility that the pallets should have made it. Some of them had been moved.

Dimly she made out another dog, probably an actual dog rather than someone like her, nosing at her side. It was big and lovely, even with the patch of scar where its eye should have been. Two more dogs were behind it. Keeping their distance for some reason.

Her eyes found the chains at each dogs neck, then followed them back to...to...

The last conscious thought Taylor had for some time was that she was almost positive it was a girl.

* * *

 


	2. Runt - 2

* * *

 

Dreams had not been much comfort to Taylor in the last few years. Usually they either started bad or went bad somewhere along the way, even the tingly ones. This one wasn't exactly an exception...just weird...

There was rain, washing out all the colour from the world and flooding her nose with the scent of clean water with a hint of smog. Then the copper attacked, garbed in crimson and pain. It drove back the river and poured down her throat to choke her lungs and squeeze her stomach...

"Hey! Shhhh. Shhhh. You're fine. You're gonna be alright."

The kind voice came with something else to squeeze at her. Quiet hands on her flank and stroking words to drift around her. The tone was clipped, hiding feminity behind a growl, and brought to mind her mom, telling her that she wasn't 'gonna' do anything, she was 'going to' do it. Then the kind hands tried to lift her and the ground hawled her down. Taylor flinched away from the dream as it was consumed by pain...

.

.

.

...the voice again, pointed away from her and with kindness gouged out and impatience sewn into its place, "Come here dammit! It's gonna take two to lift the dog without making shit worse!"

The voice wanted to lift a dog? She could probably help with that. Make her bigger. Stronger. Then she could lift all the dogs she wanted.

"No, I can't fucking do that! There's a fucking arrow sticking out of-!" A tiny tinny yell cut off the voice. Taylor had a brief thought to reach for a shape that would hear better, enough to make out the other side of the conversation, only for it to stop talking while she was considering the idea.

"Good. Look behind warehouse seven on Barrington. Hurry up."

The voice sounded worried towards the end, or maybe angry. Either way it seemed like far too much effort when the ground was so hard and cold and comfy and...

.

.

.

...two giants plucked her from the ground as she writhed and howled her agony. Or tried to howl, they were holding shut her mouth as well. Her body stretched between the two grips and Taylor remembered images of prey strung up and hanging between its hunters. Was this the end? Would they grind her bones and make her into bread?

A low exclamation, like one of the dockworkers when they were hefting a particularly back-breaking bit of cargo, and she was lowered back down onto...onto a surface that wasn't the ground...it was some kind of cloth and it felt wondrous as it cradled her.

"Motherfucker! He is a heavy bastard!" A new voice, all smooth rumbling and...maleness...

"She." The kind voice was quick to respond.

"What?"

"She's a girl." That was a particularly kind thing to say. Not many people still treated her like a girl, or even just like a human being.

"Then-" The voice broke off into a grunt of exertion; "-maybe she should lose a few pounds. I've lifted lighter bags of cement!"

Taylor felt vaguely offended by that remark. She didn't have much going for her, but she wasn't going to be breaking any scales. Maybe she could stand to lose the slight paunch that the last few years had given her...surely that didn't...weigh so...much...

.

.

.

...movement. She was somewhere dark, still cradled by the cloth they had lowered her onto with only air beneath it. The space felt small and stuffy and like it was moving sideways, however the stroking hands were back and there was a low melody being hummed beside her. The girl's voice, softer now, without the gruffness that it had worn before.

Taylor listened and tried to pick out the songs amidst the humming until it lulled her back to sleep...

.

.

.

...the hands were probing at all the places she hurt, though the pain was muted now, sometimes dabbing at the wounds instead. It felt a little like picking at a scab. There was pain but a kind of curiosity along with it. Which reminded her, looking around might be a good idea.

Her eyes felt crusty with sleep. Which was not only disgusting, it also meant that it took her a few tries to get them open. Eventually the lids agreed to part and she got a clear look at her rescuer.

The girl was bent over her and seemed intent on the bolt sticking out of her side. Auburn hair hung in a shaggy mop that hid her eyes, Taylor imagined that they were like her mom's eyes. Gentle and...and...

She wasn't sure why the girl made her think of her mom. She was built thickly where her mom had been slender, had short auburn tangles instead of endless waves of black, she was dressed more like a dockworker on their day off than a university professor...yet despite it all Taylor found herself surprised when the girl raised her head and revealed blue eyes instead of grey. Loss slammed into her gut on top of everything else and she wished, wished so much that it was her mom.

The girl reached out to her but Taylor was already retreating back into slumber...anything was better than what her life had become...

.

.

.

...something was different...there was a new hollow inside her...in her side...

This time Taylor opened her eyes immediately, looking to her flank as best she could and finding that, yes, the bolt was out and she had been wrapped in bandages. Bandages that were pretty thoroughly soaked in blood but bandages nonetheless. The gratitude welling up inside her was surprisingly pleasant, a contrast with everything else.

_clink_

She could feel the movement behind her along with the noise. Metal on metal, like someone dropping cutlery into a sink.

"You were right, this is definitely one of Stalker's. Can't say I'm not sympathetic."

"I told you."

"Yeah, yeah...wait a... Hey Rachel, this light patch here, was that there a minute ago?"

"No. That was all black."

"So chalk up one more weird thing? She'd better get here soon, this is starting to feel like a set-up."

Taylor wanted to object to that, though she wasn't sure what they were talking about, however the dark was coming back for her. Maybe it was friendly...

.

.

.

...a new voice, another girl, this one reminded her of Emma. Of who Emma used to be.

"-and you haven't used your power on her? I thought it had a healing effect for recent injuries?"

"Too risky, she's not normal." The kind voice had gone from gruff to outright annoyed while she was sleeping.

"Well you were right not to, and definitely right to call me. I'm pretty sure I know what's going on here."

The new voice was getting closer with every word, footsteps accompanying it. The beat of shoe on a hard floor continued in the absence of conversation, circling her until they stopped right in front of her face. Then nothing but a silence that seemed horribly expectant all of a sudden...

Drifting off again was denied to her by the kind hands stroking along her spine, the feeling woke her up even as it relaxed her, reminding Taylor that she was being looked after. They'd gotten her off the streets and seemed to be trying to patch her up.

Opening her eyes gave Taylor a clear view of a slim blonde in a particularly nice combination of cream sweater and lavender leggings. The obvious good taste didn't diminish her impression of this girl as someone like Emma, but the look in her eyes definitely placed that impression as the Emma of long ago. The person her old friend had become couldn't possibly have eyes that soft and open, even if she'd been willing to suffer the freckles around them without resorting to surgery or some such nonsense.

_'That vain bitch, hopefully she's still a little doggy, I'm sure as hell not turning her back any time soon...'_

"Hey there," The blonde dragged her attention back to the world; "You're probably not feeling it with those pain meds in you, but you're still bleeding. In fact if you didn't have a little regeneration going on then I'm pretty sure the bleeding would have killed you long before Rachel found you."

"Lisa, what are you doing? We need you to figure out where she came from and how we can help her, so why are you talking to the dog?" Cut in the guy's voice. Before Taylor could decide which part of his words to focus on, and thus whether or not to be annoyed at him, the blonde answered him.

"Because she's not a dog, are you Taylor."

"The fuck are you talking about? Of course she's a dog!" The kind voice sounded genuinely angry at the claim that she was anything else.

_'Maybe I should just stay as a dog forever. That would fix things, wouldn't it?'_

"I'm kind of surprised neither of you figured it out by now. I mean I get Rachel not reading yesterday's paper, but you too Brian? Shocking."

Not-quite-Emma's hands were smaller than those of the other voices, lifting her head to meet her gaze square on.

"Now Taylor, I think I've figured out enough of what's going on and you need to listen to me. You're stuck right now. You keep shifting form a tiny bit at a time but you need to go for a bigger change. I think that you can heal yourself if you try, then you'll be able to turn back safely. Okay?"

_'...that's it? That's all I had to do? Why didn't I think of that sooner?'_

"What do you mean, turn back?" Said the male voice, but no one seemed inclined to reply, or maybe she just didn't hear them as she let herself slip away. Not into the dark of sleep this time, but rather into the sea beneath her skin. Taylor slipped into the flow of forms within herself and was promptly lost in a storm.

The forms swirled around her in an ever shifting mess. Tossing around her body, or her mind or whatever. It made a lot of sense that her actual shape was unstable when the forms were this much of a mess.

_'Did I do this?'_

Given the lack of other culprits it seemed likely. The realisation brought a fresh wave of self-loathing, she'd destroyed something beautiful without even noticing, then a second epiphany followed on its heels and flipped things upside down.

_'If I did it...then that means I can undo it!'_

Taylor grabbed at a form, bracing herself to be swept alongside it and finding that it slammed to a halt instead. Distantly she could feel a few other forms slowing or stopping along with it, ones connected to this one. Taking hold of another brought it similarly to a stop, then another, and another, and another.

She had no idea how long it took, or if it took any time at all, but finally the forms were back in order. Presumably that meant she wasn't shifting randomly any more, rather than checking Taylor threw herself at the next item on the list. Healing her wounds sounded like an incredibly good idea.

It took no time at all to realise that it wasn't happening. The blonde had been wrong, which was really obvious now she thought about it. She'd changed forms plenty of times since getting hurt and there'd been no miraculous healing of her wounds. Still, something about the idea seemed...

Following the ghost of a feeling brought Taylor to a particular area in the flow, forms with varying degrees of one particular ability. An ability that seemed just about perfect for the situation at hand.

Taylor found a form in that area that had four legs and was close to her current dog breed, then she took a ragged breath in reality and shifted forms.

A moment and her wounds were itching fiercely. Two moments and the pain managed the curious feat of ceasing to be muted even as it faded away, like a song being turned back on in the last few notes. Then she felt the itch turn into a crawling sensation within her torn and abused flesh, quickly spreading into the broken bones of her wrist -ankle- and crackling there.

It couldn't have been much more than half a minute before the sensations of regeneration sputtered out, leaving her feeling awake and alert and wonderfully, luxuriously, euphorically pain free.

Free to look around properly for the first time, Taylor took in the room around the steel folding table she was lying on. It looked like an old warehouse, the ground floor filled with dusty machinery but for the area near the front where she found herself, and a rickety looking set of stairs leading up to a second floor that she couldn't see. It was quiet, just the gentle tinkling of rain on a metal roof and the occasional distant engine. The abandoned air was broken by the three people she shared the room with, two girls that she'd already seen and a guy in leather that she had to drag her eyes away from, all of them looking about her age.

They'd scattered human touches around the place; coats piled on the railing of the stairs, a backpack dumped on the floor beside her table with three vaguely familiar dogs lying around it, some shopping bags left near a rolling door that looked like it hadn't opened in years. The three of them were comfortable where they stood, like this was their space.

Even just thinking of standing seemed a little strange after however long it was that she'd been a quadruped...

She didn't hesitate, without the pain clouding her mind it was a moment's thought to return to her regular body. Then, as plain old Taylor, she stretched every limb as far as it would go and closed her eyes to bask in the return to a normal body. Even if it was a fair bit breezier without the fur.

_'...oh.'_

All of them looked shocked in the glimpse she got before slamming her eyes shut, and she understood why they were staring at the dog that turned into a girl. Still, Taylor wished that they would stare a little less while she curled into a ball and wished that she had the power to not be in a world where she was flashing her rescuers.

This time she was barely aware of the flash of instinct before she followed it, the form leaving her unchanged but for a sensation at the small of her back that she definitely didn't associate with having hands.

Her tail thickened and extended as she curled it around to her front. Quickly becoming a bush of silky black fur that was almost as long as she was tall and probably wider than she was. Enough to cover her if she faced towards them, which left in her no choice but to look straight at them and hope they didn't react to her humiliation like just about everyone else her age that she kne-

Her world went dark and warm and suddenly smelled like wet dog, which wasn't so bad given what she smelled like herself. After a bit of confused scrambling at the fabric that had been thrown over her Taylor realised that it was a coat, large enough to cover her easily, though she kept her tail in front of herself even as she settled the coat around her shoulders. Finding herself still curled up, but at least sitting upright and covered.

Now she got a look at the three of them. The blonde was standing by the guy and both of them were staring carefully at the floor, the other girl was looming just a few feet from her and looked incredibly lost.

"You uh, you looked embarrassed? I guess?" She sounded unsure for some reason, the attitude definitely didn't match up with the rest of her. Then it passed and she looked tough and distant as she snatched up the backpack and turned away. Taylor couldn't help but stare as she crossed the to the wall with the dogs trailing after her and sat with them piled around her.

"So hey. That's a nice tail you've got there."

The blonde's hesitant voice called Taylor's attention over to her, though she was wincing when Taylor 's eyes found her.

"Okay. That didn't really come out right." This time she sounded much more cheery. Stepping lightly over to the table she hopped up onto it and sat with her legs dangling over the side, looking considerably more relaxed at their proximity than Taylor felt.

"I'm Lisa, the guy in the motorbike leathers is Brian and the girl who found you is Rachel."

Rachel didn't react to her name, too busy fussing over her dogs, but Brian looked stricken for a moment. Then he swept a hand through his cornrows and walked over to offer her a hand.

Taylor managed to get a hand free without exposing herself and shook his, "I-I'm Taylor. I mean I guess you knew that..."

"Not at all," He rescued her from the silence with a boyish grin; "it was Lisa who figured out who you were, and I'd be glad of the introduction either way. It's nice to meet you."

She felt horribly under-dressed to be this close to a guy who looked like Brian did -all muscle and heroic chin, skin colour aside he looked like she imagined Legend might look beneath his mask- let alone to be touching his hand.

_'Wait, when was the last time I touched a guy who wasn't my dad?...I'm such a loser...'_

It wasn't until he cleared his throat that she realised she had been holding his hand for a bit, or maybe a lot, longer than was polite. When she let him go he was kind enough not to comment on it, just coughing awkwardly and saying, "Well I should be getting going. Busy day, I just stopped by to help and you seem fine and you're in good hands and don't worry about owing us or anything, just rest up and uh..."

He trailed off as he went for his coat and shrugged it on as he went over to a small door recessed into the brickwork. She'd missed it on her first look around the place but with how easily it opened she guessed it was the entrance they actually used. He stepped out into the afternoon rain with a final wave and then the door shut out the city once more.

Lisa laughed loudly beside her, the apprehension had barely begun to form when she clapped a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. Getting herself under control, the blonde gestured to the door and elaborated, "It's hilarious when he tries to act cool, like he wasn't freaking out at you being half naked. I'll bet the rain was turning to steam on contact with his face!"

She bent over with the return of her laughter and Taylor found the apprehension falling away. It seemed the dog girl wasn't the only nice one here.

"Glad to see you've relaxed at last. I was a little concerned for our safety if you got mad at my jokes."

"I-I wouldn't do that!" Taylor hurried to reassure her.

A delicately raised eyebrow was the give away that it might just have been another joke.

"You probably want a few explanations right? Well I'm happy to give them to you, explanations are kind of my thing."

It was Taylor's turn to raise a brow.

"No really, see explanations are my superpower." She extended a hand into what little space there was between the two of them; "I go by Tattletale in costume, I'm a supervillain."

In any other circumstances those words would have had Taylor flipping the table and trying to choose between running and fighting. The sheer weirdness stopped her short of panicking though, sitting beside a perky girl on a bloody table in what Taylor suddenly suspected might be a secret lair was...it was too far out of her experience, she had no idea how to react so she just shook Lisa's hand and wondered if she might still be dreaming.

"You're not dreaming."

_'She can read minds!'_

"I can't read minds, just make really good guesses. Incredibly good guesses in fact. I'm kind of a big deal."

This time Taylor was the one who laughed, a little snort of snotty mirth at the self-depreciating joke. So it was a world where supervillains could be nicer than Wards, that was the first bit of good news she'd had in a fair while.

"What about?" She gestured over to Rachel, who was still absorbed in her dogs, perhaps suspiciously so.

"Yes, her too. Brian and another guy make up the rest of our team. We're the Undersiders. Oh and what Brian said was true. Don't start worrying about owing us for the save, you got that?"

It could have sounded like a veiled reminder, but coming from Lisa it was pretty clear that she meant no such thing. Not with how she breezed over it.

"More importantly, we need to get you some proper clothes. Not that Rachel's coat isn't almost as nice as your tail."

"Um...Not that I don't appreciate the offer, but I'd rather just go home and get some of my own clothes."

The tension rippled across Lisa's face before she could mask it, then she must have realised that she'd been spotted because she gave up on trying to hide it. Worry didn't fit her nearly as well as the smiles and the laughter had.

"About that, Taylor we need to talk and it's, it's not going to be a lot of fun."

_'That's...more than a little ominous.'_

"I'm not sure how much you know so I'm just going to start from the beginning. Alright?"

"Y-yeah, that's fine."

Lisa took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, then she started talking and didn't stop until it was done.

"What I know is more limited than I'd like, some stuff had me distracted so I didn't really follow the news coverage too closely yesterday. It wasn't until this morning that I looked into what happened.

Two days ago you were all over the news as the girl who went on a violent rampage at Winslow High, I guessed that you might have just gotten your powers and I'm sure of it now...They reported you by name and with pictures, I'm afraid that you don't have much of a secret identity.

The highlight that most stations ran with was one of the Wards, Shadow Stalker, secretly going to Winslow and holding you off to save a bunch of students, which struck me as PR bullshit and going by your face that was pretty spot on too. Then there was a chase where you made the white hats, the heroes, look like idiots and they've been looking for you since then.

Going by what I've picked up, you were wandering around from then until when Rachel found you a couple hours ago. I think that you'd gotten stuck with just enough regeneration to stay alive but not enough to heal properly. That's about all I've got so far. Do you understand?"

Lisa looked at her but she was too stunned to even nod. After almost a minute of her staying silent Lisa spoke up again, "You see Taylor, the reason that you probably shouldn't go get your own clothes is that you're a wanted criminal. They'll definitely have people on your house looking for exactly that kind of thing. It's, it's okay though, you can just stay here and you'll be totally safe. Guaranteed."

Rachel broke her from her stupor with a grunt of...agreement? Amusement? Dismissal? Taylor couldn't tell and she didn't really give a damn.

"My whole life." Taylor choked out; "That's what you're talking about, my whole life is gone isn't it. I can't- I can't get it back."

"Well, you could let them arrest you?" Taylor felt like her snort was an appropriate response to that idea; "I know, but it is an option. You didn't kill anyone, just a few minor injuries here and there and a hell or a lot of property damage, so you might be able to get a deal for a lessened punishment. That's probably the best you can hope for though, the media's already judged you guilty and the white hats aren't sympathetic with anyone who attacks them or theirs-"

"Attack them! Like it was my fault!" Taylor found herself standing on the floor and only just keeping her voice below a scream. Lisa was at her side almost immediately.

"We know it wasn't your fault, it's everyone else who has already made up their minds. I really am sorry about this Taylor."

"Because Sophia told them some bullshit story! They didn't make up their minds, they just bought whatever she told them! Of course no one would think that maybe there was another side to it!"

"Who's Sophia? Oh fuck, fuck I really shouldn't know that."

The sick fury coiled in her gut condensed into a plan at Lisa's words.

"Who is Sophia? Don't worry, I'm going to tell the whole world who she is just as soon as I can."

"That's a very bad idea Taylor." Now Lisa sounded worried, almost scared; "Even if you're already outed, there's some serious consequences for revealing a hero's secret identity."

"Like what!? What the fuck else can they do to me!?"

"Plenty." Rachel's voice cut through the anger she was wrapping around herself, leaving her staring dumbly at the auburn haired girl where she sat against the wall among her dogs; "Telling people her name is a stupid plan. Don't do it."

_'Right. It was a bad plan, of course it was. I just need to...I just...'_

"What do I...?" She whispered. Unsure what she was asking, or who she was directing the question at.

"It's going to be fine, you're going to get through this Taylor." Lisa soothed; "You just need to avoid your house for a while, until things cool down."

"You can stay here." Was Rachel's addition, the hesitation from before returning to her voice. The same kind voice that had found her and saved her. Lisa put an arm around her shoulders and the combination almost made her burst into tears.

Her anger was drifting away, leaving her with only the misery and the loss. Taylor couldn't face that.

"No!" She threw off Lisa's arm; "I'm not just going to lay down and let them do whatever they want to me!" She removed Rachel's coat with more care than she had Lisa's arm; "And I'm not letting them take away my home!"

She was at the door before either of them could stop her, then she threw it open and stared out into the rain.

A moment later a black dog the size of a small pony was sprinting through the streets.

* * *

 


	3. Runt - 3

* * *

The rain was picking up as she left the warehouse. By the time she made it to the end of the street and realised she had no idea where she was, it had become a downpour. The sensation was closer to standing under a waterfall than a shower, obscuring vision beyond a few buildings away and soaking into her fur. Dampening the fire that had driven her outside in the first place.

Given the seasonal cold, Taylor was glad that her current 'coat' proved better at keeping the water from her skin than the ratty old thing she'd normally have worn for such weather.

_'And Emma was so proud of that jacket with the fur lining. This is way better.'_

An image of herself as a fur coat and boots popped into Taylor's head and killed the trace of good humour.

_'Not the time anyway. I need- I need to get home.'_

Which brought her back around to the central problem of not knowing where she was. It was definitely somewhere in the Docks but the rain made it impossible to pick out any landmarks and one stretch of rundown warehouses tended to look much like another.

Going back to ask for directions ran the risk of them convincing her not to go at all, a risk she couldn't take, so she'd just have to figure it out herself. Not that that was so hard. If she just walked with the bay on her left, she would have to reach one of the main streets sooner or later. Of course that required knowledge of which way it was to the sea...

Her power had yielded solutions before, so she delved back into it. This time she had a good idea what she was looking for from the start, though as her body shrunk from form to form and her eyes grew larger and more complex, she found that it was a lot less effective than she had expected. Enhanced eyesight was definitely among her tools, but even as a foot high anklebiter of a dog with eyes like saucers she still couldn't see through the rain. X-ray vision seemed to be a no.

It called something else to the surface though, a form that floated up to her at the idea of seeing through walls. Enhanced hearing this time. The rain grew in her ears, from white noise into a chorus of thunder, her cue to try something else before she had to waste time healing burst eardrums.

Scent seemed an obviously bad choice in the rain, but then her shuffle from form to form gave her a nose that flowered into pinkish red tendrils and the world opened up before her. Smell was definitely the way to go.

The water didn't smell as simple and clean any more. Purity gave way to a bouquet of chemicals and smoke and more than a few things that she had no name for, the street sung to her about everything that had been on it in the last hour, the information poured in -more than she could hope to comprehend- until she thought she must explode with the pressure of it all. However nestled in among the chaos was exactly what she was looking for, the scent of salt.

It wasn't just a clue to the way home. It was a thousand memories of her dad, coming home stinking of the sea and passing it along with every hug. It was the jolt of realising that she had barely spared her father a thought in weeks. She'd been so caught up in her own misery that she hadn't thought what her actions might mean for him. So consumed by her isolation that she forgot the one person who was still there for her.

_'I have to get home.'_

She dived into the rain with renewed vigour. Dashing as fast as her legs would carry her, Taylor found the rain made for a lucky break. Not only did the low visibility let her use a larger, faster, form, but the weather also seemed to be keeping people off the streets. Other than the occasional set of headlights flashing by, she might have been alone in the city.

Despite having to stop and get her bearings back more than once, Taylor found herself clear of the Docks sooner than she'd expected. A symphony of engines, tires and the occasional horn guided her the last few blocks to Bayview Boulevard. Even better, she recognised this particular bit of it from the scattered times that she'd gone to work with her dad, it was part of his regular route. With her destination finally clear, she set off once more.

Taylor was smart enough to realise that she would have to be more careful with the next stretch, visibility was low but not that low. A smaller form meant that people would at least think stray instead of parahuman fugitive, she told herself that the reduction in speed was a small price to pay.

At first she ran as close to the road as she could, but after having to take a detour to dodge umbrella wielding pedestrians for the third time in as many minutes, she switched to staying further away and roughly parallel to it. Keeping track of how far she'd gone was harder that way, but there wasn't much choice.

A mile and a half of wrong turns and backtracking finally saw her to the familiar turn that lead her dad to and from their little patch of decaying suburbia every day. Even through the rain it seemed to be calling out to guide her home. She quickened her pace in anticipation.

That was revealed to be a mistake a few moments later when she rounded a corner and found a hulking shape quietly rolling past her. Taylor had seen PRT transports before, she'd been overjoyed to get a ride on an older model -one of the older models with the engines that had roared deafeningly- back in middle school, but that had been when she was just another kid looking up to the heroes. Now that she was on the run the sight had her diving for cover in a scraggly hedgerow.

Nose to the dirt she curled as small as she could and waited for it to pass, expecting it to stop any second. Then after it passed she held the position for a while longer in case it came back around.

Only once she was certain that it hadn't spotted her did Taylor slink out of the bushes. It occurred to her then that it probably wasn't a coincidence that a PRT transport had been driving through her neighbourhood and that running straight home had been a monumentally stupid idea. That would be exactly what they'd expect, of course they'd have put people in position to catch her when she came home.

For a moment she wondered if it might be a mistake to go home at all, but only for a moment.

_'They can't be watching everywhere, I just have to be more careful not to get spotted. It'll be fine.'_

Abandoning the roads, Taylor found a form with a less conspicuous fur colour than pitch black and began her long trek. Sloshing through gardens and under fences, she kept low and moved only when she was certain no one could see her, and slowly even then. Mud soon caked deep into her fur, transforming her soft second skin into a squelching tangle. After realising how well it camouflaged her she forced herself to roll around a few times, completing the coating.

_'It'll come off easily enough, this isn't the time to get squeamish dammit.'_

Paranoia proved itself when peaking through the slats of Mrs Fenterson's fence -just two streets away from home- gave her a clear view of a PRT officer in full gear, the rain sluicing off them. Their combined chainmail mesh and combat armour was reminiscent of the transport, something that she used to think was cool and now wanted to be as far away from as possible. He, or possibly she, was walking along the fence line with deliberate slowness. Swivelling their head with every step and keeping a firm grip on their weapon, some bulky thing that Taylor didn't recognise.

Taylor let them pass, then cocked her head at an approaching sound and waited for the officer trailing behind to pass as well, before darting across to the next garden.

The rain was starting to ease off, driving her to take even more care about staying hidden. The next two gardens she traversed mostly within their hedges, using a small form to avoid getting tangled up as much as possible. The weather quickly fell in intensity such that by the time she reached the Hensens' old house -sitting on the market for three years and two plots from her home for a lot longer- the waterfall was reduced to a mere drizzle. The occasional shaft of sunlight poked through the clouds to make it even harder to stay hidden.

Poking her head out of the Hensens' overgrown garden, she stared across the street at the house that backed onto her own. Home to old Mr and Mrs Smith, a pair of pensioners that kept to themselves outside of occasional forays into scaring the pants off of any kids that dared to step on their property. Long ago she and Emma had lost a ball to the elderly couple's back garden and almost wet themselves in terror trying to get it back, when Emma's big sister had casually hopped the fence and retrieved it they had seriously discussed the possibility that Anne was secretly Alexandria.

The childhood terror seemed especially dumb when contrasted with the police cruiser pulled up in front of the Smith's front yard and the cops inside, gulping coffee while they kept watch. As if to rub it in Mrs Smith chose that moment to peer out the window at their car, looking less like a looming terror and more like a small scared old woman.

The street was devoid of cover, the rain had abated almost entirely. Taylor found herself with no idea how she would make it across without being seen.

_'I'm so close. There's no way I'm giving up now.'_

A distraction might work, but it was a hell of a risk. Waiting for their shift to end might take all night and wasn't certain to give her an opening. Circling around would probably just get her caught trying to find a hole in their watch that wouldn't be there.

She squished a paw violently into the dirt to vent her frustration. Then looked around carefully for any sign that she had been heard. When a tide of heroes failed to materialise Taylor dropped her head into the mud and suppressed the urge to grumble. It looked like she was going to be stuck waiting for something to happen.

That wait ended up talking about half an hour, or at least that was her best estimate, during which time the afternoon finished its transition to evening and the rain continued in fits, stutters and occasional torrential bursts. All the while the temperature was plummeting, even for January.

It was the distant sound of an engine that had her perk up from where she was idly considering the best form to reduce Sophia to if she ever got the jump on the sadistic cow, not the first engine she'd heard during her wait but definitely the first one that sounded like it was coming closer.

The sound gave her an idea. Which she promptly discarded as stupid and dangerous and generally a bad plan. Her second idea was much simpler and the better for it.

Slinking as close to the road as she could get, Taylor waited impatiently while the car rounded the corner at the end of the street and slowly drew closer to her. When it finally came level with her she darted out as close behind it as she could. With the car concealing her from the cops for a few brief moments she could cross the road with impunity, completing the manoeuvre by rushing into another bush on the other side.

Then she shrunk to the smallest form she had and crouched as still as she could, eyes spinning in search of anyone who had spotted her.

...No alarm sounded, the cops stayed right where they were.

After waiting a little longer, just in case, she began the journey around the side of the Smiths' house and into their garden. To be fair to them, she could see why they'd been so determined to keep children away from the manicured organisation of it all. Even after pouring rain and in the middle of winter, it still managed to look lovely.

She paused long enough to dig up one of their flowerbeds, then she was wriggling through a hedge to press against the fence that bordered her home. Now that she was so close, the frantic urge to get home had trickled out of her, the space filled by worry at what she might find. Two days felt like a very long time to have been gone given the circumstances.

Still, it had been too long a journey to sneak home for her to waste it all with some stupid blind rush through the front door. Taylor kept to the same pace, slowly digging at a weak spot in the fence and keeping at it until she could get underneath without shaking the slats. She peaked out from the hedge on their side of the fence, not moving even when she didn't see anyone.

Only after waiting long enough to be absolutely sure no one was going to come through the yard, did she dash out of hiding. Scurrying from one scraggly bush to another until she cleared their meagre yard and was huddled in an overgrown shrub beneath the kitchen window. The open kitchen window.

"You can spin it all you like, I'm not agreeing to have you people in my house." That was her dad's voice! He couldn't have been more than a few feet away.

An officious, and nasal, sounding voice replied, "Mr Hebert, as I have said several times we have a warrant to search your home and-"

"And it runs out in a few hours. Which is when you're going to get the hell out!"

"If we're outside then we cannot guarantee your safety. You might get hurt before we can respond." The words might have veiled a threat, but the warmth of this new voice held only honest concern.

"My safety?" Her dad sounded exhausted all of a sudden. The fire and fury drained out of his voice. "If you think I give a damn about that right now then you're obviously not a parent Mr Triumph."

_'He...he didn't deny it...he really thinks that I'd hurt him...'_

"Well it's not just your safety at stake," The voice of bureaucracy returned; "For the sake of the people who do care about their own safety, we're going to be keeping this place under watch indefinitely and I'm afraid you don't have a say in that."

"Mr Hebert." Triumph again; "It's not just your daughter that might come for you. We'll also be on the watch for reprisal against you as the family of a villain, it's not an uncommon thing when someone is unmasked."

"You make it sound like you're going to be here forever."

Silence answered him loud and clear.

"But, I mean you can't..."

"We can and we will, as I have already said it is as much for your protection as to aid our pursuit of your daughter."

"It won't be as heavy as right now, you won't have me and Battery camping in your yard." The joke didn't get a laugh; "Uh, yeah, it'll just be a few PRT agents keeping an eye out is all."

She'd heard enough. It wasn't like she could do anything with Triumph right beside her dad anyway. Best to get moving before someone found her or the urge to give her dad a hug overwhelmed her better judgement. As she crept away the argument didn't seem to be dying down much.

_'I'm so sorry daddy. So so sorry.'_

Since the door at the front of the house was probably covered and the kitchen door was obviously out, Taylor went around to the basement window and shoved against it...in just...the right-

_clunk_

The window popped open so suddenly that she nearly fell through, just managing to scramble back in time. Poking her head through let her pick out the clear patch of floor amidst all the mess of tools and boxes and assorted junk.

Of course her jump missed that clear patch completely and she bounced off a box of books then thumped head first into the concrete. It didn't make much noise but the pain still made for a great reminder why she'd stopped sneaking in and out of the house that way long before she got too big to fit through the window. Fortunately her powers let her shake off the injury as quickly as she could find a form that had sufficient regeneration, which was pretty fast.

While she was at it she took the time to scrape off as much of her coating of muck as she could. It wouldn't hide her indoors and besides that, tracking mud all over the house would just be the cherry on the bad daughter cake. Once she'd gotten as much of it off as she could manage, Taylor began picking through forms for one well suited for sneaking from the basement up to her room. Wide paws, as light as possible, good hearing.

Five minutes later she was trying to decide between brown fur or cream when footsteps drifted down from the yard through the open basement window and announced that there was no more time for hesitating. The stairs were old and creaky but the tenth, fifth and second were all solid enough to take her current weight silently as she leapt from one to the next.

Pressing an ear to the door soon informed her that the argument was still ongoing and still located in the kitchen, which gave her a clear shot across the living room to the stairs. She took a more human form just long enough to gently twist the doorknob, then she nudged it open just enough to slip through.

It wasn't until she had done so, closed it just as carefully and scampered as quietly as possible to shelter beneath the couch that it occurred to Taylor that another person might have been in the room and staying silent.

Before she could properly berate herself for the mistake, rapid footsteps heralded a less hypothetical risk of discovery. The sound was already too close to run for the stairs, all she could do was huddle all the way back against the wall and hope no one found a reason to look under the couch.

The first set of shoes to come into sight were her dad's familiar work boots. Formal enough for the office, rugged enough for the docks. As he picked something up from the coffee table -or maybe put something down on it- another set of shoes stepped up next to him, these ones much more formal and about as rugged as wet tissue paper.

_'The bureaucrat. Or maybe he's a lawyer, he certainly sounds like Mr Barnes.'_

"I've already read this, I'm not sure what you think shoving it at me again is going to accomplish."

"I'm asking you to read it again. Read it and tell me to my face that there's no evidence my daughter is the victim."

"Your daughter's diary is not evidence, its a list of allegations. All of them asserted with no proof but her word, and that given in absence since all we have of her at present is the diary in question."

_'That's, my journal? How did Dad get my journal?!'_

He'd been in her room. He'd searched her room and found the journal nestled at the back of her closet. It was ridiculous to even care, he had every reason to do it, but she was still angry. Her last sanctuary had been violated by the one person she should have been able to trust. Rage bubbled impotently in her chest while their conversation grew steadily more heated.

"I understand that the journal's not enough by itself but how can you not think it warrants a closer look?"

"You have a reputation as an intelligent man, I'm sure you understand that we do not have infinite resources with which to investigate claims as thin as this. Especially not when there's absolutely no doubt that your daughter did bring a weapon to school with the intent to use it, that she did assault other students with a parahuman power and that she would have done worse if it wasn't for Shadow Stalker's actions."

"...You're right, I'm not an idiot. It's not hard to join the dots here. Even I can figure out that your Ward must be one of the girls mentioned in this journal-"

"I would step very carefully Mr Hebert." There was a note of steel beneath the nasal drone; "The Bryer Act lays out some very harsh penalties for revealing the secret identities of heroes, especially when they're underage. No matter how angry you may be it does not give you the right to expose the family of a Ward to danger."

"That's convenient." Her dad bitterly replied.

Boots covered in ornate greaves came into sight from the direction of the kitchen, marking Triumph's return to the conversation.

"Sir, I can see how this might sound like we're covering for Shadow Stalker and I want you to know that's not what's going on here. We just don't want her family to be placed at risk or her life upended. I can assure you that we don't need to cover anything up, because there's no way she did what your daughter claims."

"I've seen her interview with-"

"Everyone's seen that interview...I won't deny that she can be abrasive. She's also dedicated and enthusiastic about her work, maybe too enthusiastic, but this is my colleague we're talking about and she's a Ward, not some sadistic bully."

"There's simply no evidence to the contrary outside of this journal," The lawyer added; "The students she attacked deny it of course, but teachers and other students support their version of events. Your daughter didn't get along with Ms Barnes and her friends, she made a lot of accusations against them that turned up nothing when the school pursued them. Then for no reason that anyone -including yourself- is aware of, she assaulted them and might have killed someone if Shadow Stalker hadn't been there to save them."

"Are you trying to say my daughter just made it all up? That she sent herself those messages? That she put herself in the hospital?!"

Triumph cut right through his mounting roar. "No, its clear that someone in Winslow was giving your daughter a lot of trouble and the school has promised to investigate that. We're saying that while she may have made certain assumptions about who was behind what was done to her, that doesn't make those assumptions true. It certainly doesn't justify attacking students who had nothing to do with it."

"I can see how this is difficult for you Mr Hebert, but surely you can see that all the evidence points to your daughter being unstable and in dire need of help. Help that she will get once she's safely in custody."

Her dad's boots abruptly stomped off towards the kitchen.

In his absence Triumph spoke up, "So Velocity and Battery are on the Barnes girl's house, but this is the second most likely location? What about the other girls' homes? With how Stalker described her I'd think she'd be more likely to go after them."

Taylor feared that Triumph and the lawyer would keep talking, but the sound of the back door cut off the lawyer's reply and had them following her dad into the kitchen. She grabbed the opportunity and wriggled out from under the couch, scurrying for the stairs while they called for him to come back inside.

Only when she was safely upstairs did she slow down, sink into the worn carpet and allow herself to think about what she'd overheard. The resolve that she'd had when she rushed out into the rain had deserted her. Stop them from taking away her home? It was already lost and there was not a damn thing she could do about it. It was a massive risk coming back at all

All the effort she'd put in to getting home, and for what? What the hell was she even doing here? She couldn't even explain to her dad without getting knocked around by another hero.

_'I should have just stayed with the Undersiders.'_

She doubted that their offer would still stand after she threw it back in their faces like that.

_'So I don't have anywhere to go, guess I'm homeless now...which means I'll need my stuff.'_

Standing on all four paws, she took a deep breath and then shook her head clear, spattering some lingering mud on the walls and floor in the process. The misery still dragged at her body, calling for her to lie down and wait for them to find her, but she refused it. Sitting and waiting to be arrested would mean every hellish moment of her escape had been for nothing. It would mean that she hadn't just lost everything, it would mean that Sophia and Emma and Madison and all their shitty friends had won.

They were not going to win.

Her bedroom door was right there, but she ignored it for now. Instead, picking her way carefully to avoid the creaky floorboards that were scattered about like landmines, she went to the bathroom and shifted back to her normal self, regular old Taylor Hebert. The blurry sight of herself in the mirror, scrawny, naked and covered in drying mud, made for a momentary distraction before she grabbed her spare glasses from under the sink and wrapped both of the enormous fluffy towels that she'd gotten last Christmas around herself. Her hair was a mess and it felt incredibly gross, but the pipes would inform everyone downstairs if she ran any water and she couldn't afford to be discovered yet.

Poking her head out to make sure the coast was clear, Taylor made a beeline for her bedroom door this time. Swinging it open, she stepped through and closed the door in a single motion, letting her head thud softly against it. With another deep breath she turned around and took in the state of her room. It wasn't a pleasant sight.

Really it should have been obvious that the PRT would search her room. She was a dangerous villain after all, they'd want to know if she had any plans to attack someone or blow something up or, or something...

It just hadn't occurred to her until she saw her drawers pulled out -clothes unfolded and clumsily shoved back into them- and her closet hanging open, her books stacked in front of her bookshelf and her computer opened up and stripped of its hard drive. They'd even unmade her bed and, to judge by the way the mattress sat crooked, checked underneath it as well.

No wonder her dad had had her journal, her privacy was ripped apart and strewn all over her bedroom.

She didn't even realise that she'd clenched her fists until she brought them up to try and hold in the scream clawing at her throat. Anger made her tremble and ache to lose herself in her forms again, to rush down the stairs and make them pay for this intrusion.

_'Like you made Sophia pay?'_

As unwanted thoughts went, that one was like a bucket of cold water. It was also a damn good point. One Ward had kicked her ass and she wanted to fight Triumph, multiple PRT agents and who knew what else? Not a good idea. Staring out the window at the thick snow flakes that had begun falling since she'd entered her house, Taylor reminded herself of exactly what had happened the last time she let anger make her choices for her. The wound in her side might have healed but the memory of the bolt was still sickeningly fresh.

It was getting dark and the clouds suggested that the snow might pick up at any moment. Time to hurry.

Her big duffel bag was poking out of the closet instead of folded up at the back like she had left it, which was annoyingly convenient. She unzipped it and started by putting one of her towels in, then she set about sorting through her clothes for the best of her meagre wardrobe. She didn't bother with her worn coat, but the mutated blob of a wool jumper that her mom once knitted her went in there alongside the stacks of jeans and t-shirts. Underwear was a simple matter of scooping everything out of two drawers and stuffing the lot into a side pocket of the bag, then she had a thought and dug a particular pair of panties out.

Shoving the Armsmaster brand garment back in the drawer was petty, but she'd be damned if she wore anything with a hero on it from now on.

Her spare trainers went in along with the open toed wedges that amounted to the only nice shoes she owned that Emma hadn't ruined. Her purse was lost along with everything she'd worn to school, but her spare purse was nicer anyway and she hadn't brought more than a few dollars at a time to school in months.

Thinking of money, she felt along the thick wooden pillars on either side of her bookshelves and suppressed a triumphant laugh. The knot that stuck out a foot up one of pillars was still there! Poking a finger into it popped the knot into the hollow inside, then a quick tug pulled off the entire panel. Nestled inside was her ID, which she almost picked up before realising it was useless to her now, the paltry hundred and forty dollars that she'd saved and a little tin of keepsakes with her name messily painted across it. It was mostly random junk that she'd treasured as a pre-teen, but it still went in the bag.

That seemed like just about everything, though she couldn't resist grabbing a few books now that she faced a high probability of never seeing her collection again. A few favourites, her mom's copy of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and the half dozen books her dad had gotten her for Christmas that she'd never felt up to reading. It was a significant weight but it all fit and she could boost her strength as she liked.

Still, she was bent over the bag and debating whether to remove some of the books when the door swung open a few feet from her.

The woman in the hall didn't look like she'd been expecting a teenage villain dressed in mud and a towel. Most of her armour was off and she held a toolbox with 'Evidence' stencilled across it in one hand. However the other hand held another of the same guns that she'd seen the other agents carrying. This close it looked a hell of a lot bigger, like it might double as a club when out of ammo, the barrel wasn't even pointed at her and it seemed cavernous enough to swallow her whole.

Taylor was grabbing for the woman an instant later, the barrel rose fast and the woman dropped the evidence box as she stepped back into the hall. She grabbed the first form that came to mind and leapt on legs that were still thickening with shifting muscle. The agent met her charge confidently and was shoved back into the wall like a child wrestling a bear. Plaster cratered with the impact, adding dust to the mud all over Taylor. Before the woman could recover, Taylor slapped a hand to her cheek and grabbed the least threatening form she could find. The stunned woman found herself as a Chihuahua completely wrapped in PRT-issue armour while Taylor dashed back into her room.

Yells from downstairs demanded 'Agent Forstead' report as she tore off the towel and fumbled it into the bag. Footsteps thundered on the stairs while she frantically yanked the zipper closed and slung the strap across her chest. Triumph roared wordlessly in the hall, probably having seen his ally reduced to a handbag dog. Suppressing panic, Taylor focused on a particular form she'd picked out while packing and thinking about how to get back out of the house. The hero made it to her door in time to get a glimpse of the fur rippling across her body, then she was putting her plan into action.

Of course, she'd been planning to open the window before jumping through it. Glass and snow tumbled through the air around her, the former slicing where her fur didn't ward it off, then there was a roaring in her right ear and she was tumbling off to the side.

She crashed into a hedge and clamped a hand over her bleeding aching ear, she didn't hear the slap of her palm against her head. She didn't hear anything from that side of the world.

_'It's fine, I'll heal it later!'_

Jerking her gaze up to her bedroom, Taylor saw Triumph framed by the jagged remains of the window. His lion-themed armour put her in mind of a gladiator and she had to admit that he looked good in it. Brave, strong, heroic. He opened his mouth and she wondered if this was when he would ask her to surrender quietly, offer her a friendly voice and a listening ear.

"Taylor!" Her dad's voice shocked Triumph as much as it did her, both of them jerked their heads towards the kitchen door where he was trying to shove past the surprisingly broad shouldered lawyer.

A patch of snow between her and her dad exploded in yet more mud and grass and Taylor abruptly remembered that Triumph's -well publicised- power was sonic blasts projected from his mouth. Her ear throbbed and she realised that she wasn't getting any calls to surrender from this guy. Even Sophia had said something before attacking her.

_'Asshole.'_

She was in motion before the next blast came, diving over the fence and getting the Smiths' apple tree between her and danger. Her form shifted for less strength and as much toughness as she could manage, then a little less toughness so she could add regeneration. As soon as her damaged ear began itching, she sprinted for the corner of the Smiths' house.

The cops from the car in front of their house were running down the side of it when she rounded the corner, guns up and shouting as soon as they saw her. Taylor didn't slow down, not even when both of them opened fire and a pair of fists slammed into her chest hard enough to knock the breath out of her lungs. Pushing herself through the pain, she closed the gap before either of them could fire a second time and slapped at their guns. Hard.

Judging by the sounds they made behind her, the blows had hurt badly, but they didn't shoot at her so she wasn't sure if she cared all that much. Getting shot seriously fucking hurt, even in her current form. She didn't even want to think about what might have happened if she hadn't taken the time to shift herself tougher.

Running out onto the street, Taylor ignored the road and held course for the Hensens' yard. They'd easily box her in on the roads, but she could probably move a lot faster from one yard to another. When no cops or agents greeted her in their back yard Taylor decided to abandon toughness in favour of four legs and more speed. Tightening the duffel's strap held it close to her back, then she was shifting, falling to all fours a lot closer to the ground.

Now she could run properly. Quick strides carrying her through one increasingly snowy garden after another. Long low jumps arcing her over fences despite the weight on her back. She didn't pay attention to the contents of each plot, whether they were occupied or not didn't matter nearly so much as whether she could hear the sounds of pursuit, sounds that she only heard once or twice and even then the sirens were distant.

It seemed hardly any time at all before the yards abruptly became streets, the buildings gaining several floors in the same transition.

Taylor kept running.

The snow was falling thick and fast now, a quiet blizzard that obscured vision even better than the earlier rain. She wondered if they'd given up the chase now that visibility could be measured in inches. Then she got back to running, increasingly unsure if she was running away from them or towards something else...or maybe just running because when she stopped she'd need to think and none of the thoughts were going to be happy ones.

She couldn't even recognise streets any more. The sidewalk and the road were distinguished by the slightest bump in the snow, cars were lumps of white with the occasional patch of colour, all around her more and more tumbled out of the sky. Still she kept moving.

Even when her chest began to stutter with each new breath. Even when the air stopped coming and going smoothly, rasping at her teeth and burning in her throat, even as her legs rose and fell with less and less rhythm.

Then she hit a patch of ice beneath the snow and she was tumbling through the powder, smacking bits of herself on the hard ground beneath.

She curled up where she lay, strained against the constriction of her bag's strap...then she went limp. As though waiting for the cue, the adrenaline that she had been running on for the last few days finally ran out. Without it, Taylor realised that she was starving, she was exhausted and she ached all over like she'd spent the entire time in a ring with Alexandria. She was cold, dirty and soaked to the bone.

_'I don't care.'_

Fur rippled and bones flowed as she returned to human form. The snow's chill had been harsh against her fur, against bare skin it was a moment of burning and then numbness spreading over her.

_'It doesn't matter.'_

She remembered the tail she had formed earlier and found it in the sea of possibility beneath her skin, twining it around herself and hugging it tight.

_'I'm probably going to freeze to death and...I just don't care any more.'_

The bag, the chase, her home, it all blurred together in her thoughts and finally tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn't run from them any more. Couldn't shake them off or distract herself. So she curled into a ball in whatever corner of the Bay her thoughtless wandering had brought her to and she sobbed as the darkness fell.

Light blanketed her without warning. Not some harsh PRT spotlight or even a streetlight, this was a warm glow and accompanied by a little heat against her back. Turning instinctively to get it on her front as well, Taylor found herself facing an open door and a familiar girl in a familiar coat. A familiar door as well, she'd rushed out of it earlier that day after all.

Another time and she might have been mortified to be naked in front of a girl she hardly knew. Right then she was too exhausted to feel something as active as embarrassment. Maybe if the boy had been there as well, but not for a girl. Especially not for one as nice as Rachel.

Of course Rachel had been nice before Taylor had spat in the face of a generous offer and run off to do something supremely stupid. Now...

The auburn haired girl crouched beside her, looking like she had no idea what was going on or what she was looking at. The same confusion that she'd worn earlier. Maybe it was the tail?

"You left"

The words brought some life back to Taylor. Enough for her to stir a little, to try to get up. A warm hand on her shoulder made her go still. It was a gentle grasp, enough so that Taylor wondered if she might not have offended the other girl quite as much as she thought she had.

"I know...I'm sorry...I..."

Finally Taylor managed to bring herself to meet Rachel's eyes, the gruff expression surrounding them failed to conceal the kindness there; "...I don't have anywhere else to go..."

Rachel furrowed her brow yet again, then shook her whole body like she was trying to get dry. When she stilled, the confusion was gone, or at least buried beneath a clenched jaw and squared shoulders.

Rachel yanked her to her feet with a little more difficulty than Taylor would have expected from a girl who seemed so tough. She didn't look at Taylor, keeping her eyes on the door as she almost dragged the weaker girl inside.

"Come in. It's cold."

The door shut tight behind them. It wasn't long before the snow filled in the place where Taylor had been lying.

* * *

 


	4. Vixen - 1

* * *

What the fuck was the sun's problem? What had she done to offend the weather so badly? Clearly she must have done something because the night long blizzard had ended just in time for the sun to greet her like a lance to the skull.

_'Coincidence? I think not!'_

Sarah buried her head in her pillows. Then, when that failed to block out the glare, she hauled the blankets up over her head and curled up in the warm little cocoon that resulted. Only to moan in frustration that the light was still filtering through to her poor eyeballs. Even muted by a foot or two of snow, the skylight's filth-encrusted glass and her winter blankets, the glare still pushed through her eyelids to turn her world white.

Finally she pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes to try and shut it out, swallowing the bile that rose with each new throb of her skull. Her hands blocked enough light that her migraine stopped getting worse but it didn't get any better either. Left with no choice but to weather it, she huddled under the sheets and kept her mind as blank as she possibly could.

Eventually the pain drifted away. Her hands relaxed but it was still dark, her power told her she was sleeping, then it told her the real reason why Bobby Grenjel hadn't asked her out back in middle school. She'd intimidated him with her maturity and womanliness and maturity, it had nothing to do with the braces. Reassured by that, she slept peacefully until she was dragged out of bed and strapped to a table and a man made out of snakes and knives bent over her until his breath was hot in her ear and he started cutting and cutting and cutting and-

Lisa clamped her hands over her mouth to hold in the scream. A little of it still bubbled out, but her blankets were twisted tightly around her and they'd muffle the sound enough that the others wouldn't hear.

Even though the constricting sheets felt awfully like straps, Lisa resisted the urge to kick them off and maybe cry a little. It wasn't her first nightmare and it wasn't going to be the one that broke her will. In fact it was a good thing. Her migraine had died down to a dull -easily ignored- drumbeat against her temple and to judge by the light, the nightmare had woken her up in time to get an earlier start than her usual mid-afternoon morning.

So what if the only reason she had the migraine was that bastard's late night call to demand a ridiculous amount of information as soon as possible? So what if she'd confirmed that the cadence and tension of his voice indicated a raging desire to torture her to death? So what if he was the festering root of all that was wrong in her world? What mattered was that she had a full day of free time ahead of her and it was going to be nothing but wall to wall relaxation.

The patch of her wall where her -heavily coded- investigation into his true power and resources was recorded felt like a lead weight on her mind. Yanking her attention out the back of her skull, demanding she get back to work on it. She ignored it with the simple reasoning that she was in no state to investigate further, shoving the whole mess far out of her mind and refusing to give it another thought.

_'Relax, relax, relax.'_

Now that she could look up at it without screaming, the skylight was actually kind of pretty. The snow filtered the daylight into something gentler, bathing the scattered mess of notes and clothes and plates that covered her rugs...

Okay, so maybe she needed to clean her room. Her pillows were scattered around the room, her closet had vomited its contents everywhere and her dressing table was approaching classification as modern art. Every wall was coated in pinned notes, half of them out of date or incorrect, while her laptop was nestled in the lap of an ugly oversized teddy that she'd won two months ago. Over it all hung the not so sweet scent of a teenage girl in a room without much air circulation. Still, she rebelled at the idea of cleaning it on her day off. Not that she really had a problem with cleaning. It just struck her as a violation of her principles as a teenage supervillain. What was the point in lacking any adult supervision if you didn't act like it?

Convictions reaffirmed, Lisa extricated an arm from her sheets and picked a robe out of the bunch hanging off the head of her bed. She considered giving it a sniff, but there was a more reliable measure of wearability available to her.

_Worn three times since previous washing, worn while cooking pasta, stained with tomatoes, stained with-_

Nope. That one was tossed onto the laundry pile that was making it increasingly difficult to open her door. She grabbed the next and let her power out for a brief glimpse.

_Worn once since previous washing, used to clean up spilled soda twice, used to clean laptop screen once_

Another one for the laundry pile. Next.

_Not worn since previous washing_

She cut it off there and began wiggling out of her sheets and into the robe. Once she was kneeling on her bed and properly garbed in case anyone barged in, she began her morning yoga routine. Then stopped thirty seconds into it and decided that she couldn't be bothered today. Maybe after a shower.

Picking her way across the floor to her dressing table, she swept her lockpicking practice off the seat and took a good look at herself in the mirror. She didn't look her best of course, but she didn't look awful either. Certainly not bad enough to need make-up just for the trip to the shower. Her skin was mostly clear and there was no need to hide the slight bags under her eyes from her team, if anything they'd make her look hard working. No one would think that it was because she'd woken at dawn and slept poorly afterwards.

Lisa glared up at the reason for her uncharacteristic hours. Getting the room with the only skylight outside the living area had seemed like such a victory back when they were divvying up who got where. Of course she'd known she would need black out curtains or shutters or some such, but that hadn't seemed like a great obstacle. Like most people she hadn't considered the amount of DIY involved in a secret lair that you wanted to keep secret.

Since she lacked the time, skills or inclination to do it herself, she was left with no options other than to save up blackmail material until she could make Brian do it.

Until then she just had to deal with the light when she overused her powers. It was either that or move into the storeroom and there was no way she was cleaning that out by herself.

Lisa got up and grabbed a towel. She was almost out the door when she remembered the cold metal floor of the corridor running between their rooms, spurring her to quickly dig out her fluffy slippers from under the bed. The others must have stuck the big heaters on out in the main room because the hall wasn't nearly as cold as she expected, it still wasn't comfortable enough to linger and she rushed for the bathroom and hopped straight into the shower the moment it was running.

Her shriek tested the loft's soundproofing to its limits.

Glacial water was bad enough when you were expecting it, the surprise had her throwing herself against the wall of the shower to try and get away. She banged her shin on the taps but managed to avoid most of the spray as it slowly, oh so slowly, heated up. Eventually it got hot enough for her to wash, something she did as quickly as possible because with the sleep shocked out of her she remembered what would come next.

Bodywash, rinse.

Shampoo, rinse.

Conditioner, rinse, and done!

When she stepped out with a victorious fist pump, the water was rapidly going from comfortably hot to scalding.

Honestly it was to be expected of a shower that they'd installed themselves, even if the underlying plumbing had all been put in properly by the building's previous owners. Though she supposed their risky shower did help to wake them up in the mornings. As she walked back to her room there was certainly an energised bounce in her step that hadn't been there before. In fact she was feeling good enough that she went through with her yoga after all, throwing on sweat pants and a t-shirt for twenty minutes of attempting to contort herself into a pretzel.

If asked under considerable duress, Lisa might admit that she wasn't very good at it.

Finally it was time to get ready for a day out. She had a particularly cute top that she hadn't gotten a chance to wear since she bought it, one that she suspected would go well with her favourite peasant skirt. Setting them aside she quickly applied some light make-up, just a bit of lip-gloss and enough conditioner to hide the bags under her eyes, then ran a brush through her hair until it behaved. While she dressed Lisa thought to add thick purple leggings and a pair of mittens for the cold.

Looking herself over one last time, Lisa couldn't resist twirling in place. She looked great. Everyone who saw her was going to see someone confident and happy and not even a little bit terrified of her mysterious boss. With that in mind she grabbed her boots and jacket and headed out the door.

_'I should swing by Dana's place, see if she's finished that sculpture yet. Then I'm thinking a coffee on the Boardwalk and some light shopping. Oh, I wonder if the ice rink's open?'_

Walking out of the hallway put her squarely in the kitchen area of the Undersiders' secret loft, a contrast between expensive materials and amateurish assembly, which was separated by a long counter from the lion's share of the living space. That space was filled on one side with the oversized table on which they did their planning and on the other with several couches, armchairs and a coffee table clustered around a massive television and every games console Alec had been able to get his hands on. However after being trapped in their base overnight by the snow, Lisa had been certain that her teammates would all have headed out for some fresh air.

Finding Alec sprawled in an armchair and playing something with lots of explosions on the big screen, that wasn't too unexpected, but finding Rachel and Brian still inside -sitting at the kitchen counter and the planning table respectively- was a shock. Rachel never waited this long to take her dogs for their morning walk and Brian should have been desperate to go check on his sister after a snowstorm like last night's. Instead Rachel was moodily slicing fruit into her muesli and Brian was brooding over some kind of paperwork.

_Brian working on custody application, already done, been done for weeks, delaying because_

_'Not important, why is he here?'_

_Busywork, has nothing to do, cannot leave, no one allowed to leave_

"Guys." She blurted out; "Uh, why aren't we allowed to leave the loft?"

Of course she could just keep using her power but she was flirting with another migraine as it was. Not to mention that if she asked then she could argue against whatever it was much more easily.

It was Alec who replied, "Look outside."

Brian elaborated, "The snow hasn't been cleared yet, so if we leave then its going to be pretty obvious that this place is occupied."

"How obvious could a bit of snow make it?" Lisa said, mostly because she could feel her plans slipping away and she wasn't ready to let them go yet.

"There's almost three feet of snow piled against the door Lisa, we'll have to dig ourselves out as it is." She imagined her lovely day of fun being buried deeper and deeper with every word.

"But-!"

"Sorry, I need to get back to work on this."

_'No you don't. I know it and I know that you know I know it!'_

Telling him that was pointless though, it wouldn't change anything other than to antagonise him for no good reason. Brian had enough stressing him out already. What with his parents and his sister and trying to keep Rachel and Alec in line, their fearless leader existed in a constant state of desperately needing to get laid or drunk or high or anything else that might unwind him a bit. Right now? With his sister fresh off a night stuck at one of their parents' places? Lisa was a little concerned that he might explode. So poking him for a reaction was out due to being excessively cruel.

_'Here lies my beloved plans for the day, cut down before their time. Survived by a day of boredom and boredom.'_

Messing with Rachel was also not an option, mostly because experience showed that Rachel responded to verbal prodding with violence and Lisa liked her nose as it was. Which left Alec as her entertainment for the day.

Sure he might have muted emotions. That just made it more of a challenge to get on his nerves. The imaginary Mr and Mr Wilbourn didn't raise no quitter.

Newly pumped up, Lisa skipped across the room to the back of the couch nearest to Alec and vaulted it to land butt first on some nice soft cush-

_yelp!_

Lisa shot to her feet as quickly as she'd come down on the very bony not-a-cushion, but the damage was already done. The fifth person in the room was currently in the form of a slender black wolf, not that that made the hurt in her eyes any less obvious.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry Taylor! I didn't see you, I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!"

It was a lie of course, Lisa had seen her. She'd just forgotten that they had taken in a second fugitive last night and when she saw the black shape on the couch she had assumed it was a cushion. Still, actually saying as much would be pretty hurtful for a girl fresh from losing her entire life, plus whatever abuse it was that she'd been suffering before that.

_'I'm such an asshole.'_

She reached out without thinking, trying to reassure Taylor that it had just been an accident, then froze when the other girl shrank away from her hand.

_'Right, she doesn't like attention and there's no way she'll be up for touching so soon after those injuries. I need to calm down and stop crowding her.'_

Taking a deep breath Lisa stepped back and apologised in a more level tone; "I'm sorry Taylor, I didn't mean to do that."

This time she got a reaction, the hurt fading away before Taylor lifted and dropped a paw. It took a moment for Lisa to translate it into a human gesture, waving her off.

Certain that whatever Taylor was feeling, bringing more attention to it wouldn't help, Lisa sat down on the other end of the couch from her and resisted the urge to put her head in her hands and groan. From what she remembered of reading the girl last night, it would be a very bad idea to start tossing verbal barbs back and forth with Alec right in front of her. So it was time for her back-up entertainment.

Grabbing her spare laptop from the coffee table, Lisa tapped in the random sequence of her current password then started setting up the maze of false leads and obfuscation that she used for her more illicit browsing activities. All the while examining Taylor from the corner of her eye. She looking like she was watching Alec's game, but it didn't take long for Lisa to see through that. It was just something to stare at, she wasn't actually paying any attention to the what was happening.

_Thinking about her life, thinking about her father, thinking about her school, thinking about her mother_

Lisa suppressed a wince at the latest use of her power. Much as she enjoyed using it, last night took too much out of her for any more casual inferences. She could figure out the rest on her own anyway. Taylor was depressed and would probably sit right where she was for the rest of the day unless Lisa did something to snap her out of it.

As the last piece of her labyrinth came together, Lisa wondered if that was as good an idea as it initially sounded. Sure it would be more comfortable to sit beside her if she wasn't miserable, but Lisa had enough experience with world destroying grief to wonder if Taylor might just need time to work through it of her own accord.

It wasn't like Lisa had much idea where to start helping her even if that was the right course of action. Just about every option she could give Taylor was wildly illegal and she doubted that the depressed pseudo-werewolf was eager to add to her crimes. Not to mention Lisa wasn't sure if enabling her would be a good idea even if she was willing. Taylor's readiness to drop the nuke and reveal a Ward's identity the day before still weighed on her mind, giving her any more temptation felt like a recipe for disaster.

 _'Or Maybe,'_ Lisa thought bitterly as the PRT camera feeds came online; _'I'm just pissed off about the kind of info Coil made me put together last night and I don't want to revisit it with little miss psycho-Ward's victim.'_

He hadn't asked for Shadow Stalker's identity -a damn good thing because she knew it now and he always seemed to know when she was lying to him- but a lot of what he had asked for came very very close. The terms of her probation were at least protected by the spirit of the Unwritten Rules, if not by their hypothetical letter. The GPS data for her patrols was hardly any better.

Sophia Hess might be a sadistic asshole with a bad habit of shooting people Lisa knew, but being snared in Coil's plans was a fate she wouldn't wish on the fucking Simurgh.

The one good thing about last night was that she hadn't picked up any trace that Coil knew Taylor was with them or that he even cared where the runaway was, a state of affairs she had every intention of maintaining.

Lisa returned her attention to the cameras and tried to focus on the hilarity of Agent Smyth's continued attempts to tempt Agent Forstead into going on a date with him. The guy wasn't bad to look at but he clearly had no idea how to talk to other people. No wonder he never got assigned to the tour routes.

She'd picked apart two more budding office romances and moved on to determining who was stealing the most stationary when Rachel thumped down in one of the armchairs. Her dogs followed along and settling at her feet after several cautious looks to Taylor. The butch girl was carrying her breakfast with the hunched shoulders of every starving street kid Lisa had ever known, though she had to know none of them were going to try and steal it. She was the only one who even liked muesli.

_Protective of food, protective of fresh food, enjoys fresh food, enjoys fresh fruit, enjoys fresh cooking, enjoys_

Lisa grabbed her forehead and hissed in pain.

_'Motherfucker...'_

Beside her she felt the couch shift as Taylor perked up. Her power grabbed at the input and she had to haul it back frantically before it got going again.

She'd let her guard down and now she was going to be paying for it for the next hour or two. Remembering Taylor beside her she turned and managed a smile, probably not a very convincing one but it seemed to do the trick judging by the way Taylor slumped back down.

When she'd gotten as used to the pain as she was going to get, Lisa opened her eyes and got back to her reality show slash soap opera. It wasn't pulling her in as much though, and not just because Rachel's noisy chewing and Alec's game were distracting her.

Rachel's fixation on her food was suspiciously constant, she was completely ignoring how Taylor kept glancing over at her then going back to her cloud of misery. Except that every now and again it would be Rachel that glanced up. She would get the same look she did when she was examining her dogs, then she looked confused, then finally angry before she returned her attention to her food.

Any other time Lisa would have been all over it. Trying to figure out exactly what each micro-expression meant and how she could possibly leverage that understanding to help Taylor with her feelings and maybe even make yet another attempt at getting through to Rachel. However her power reacted to her trying to figure things out, the more she puzzled at something the more it strained to bypass her control and offer her the answer -or more commonly, a few dozen possible answers- unprompted. The more she cared about the solution, the worse it got.

Normally that just made it very hard to enjoy her favourite detective stories. Right now it was making every fresh wave of clues batter her control and sooner or later it was going to break through and her headache was going to turn into a true migraine.

Shame coiled in the pit of her stomach as she backed out of the PRT servers and rushed to shut down her laptop. Mumbling about her bed, she left the computer where she'd been sitting and walked quickly over to the bedroom hallway. As soon as she was out of sight Lisa practically broke into a run, slipping through her door and hurling herself into bed fully dressed.

Ignoring the sense that she'd just failed some cosmic test, Lisa curled up beneath her sheets and tried to clear her mind. Wishing all the while that she'd just stayed in bed to start with. Who the hell had she been kidding with her grand plans for the day? If the snow hadn't stopped her then her power would have driven her back home inside of an hour.

_sigh_

_'Sometimes having superpowers sucks.'_

* * *

 


	5. Vixen - 2

* * *

First impressions were critically important. Her mother used to go on and on about them every time she was brought out to meet some new business partner or family 'friend';

"You only get one chance Sarah."

"You have to seize the moment Sarah."

"You must try to be more like your brother Sarah."

"You don't want to let me down, do you Sarah?"

Still, no matter the source, the lesson was a good one. First impressions mattered, even if they weren't technically the first time you'd met someone. Lisa doubted that Taylor had much impression of her from their actual first meeting, not with how much she'd been going through at the time. So it was a good bet that sitting on her would be what Taylor remembered most.

Lisa filled her room with the biggest and most pitiable groan that she could manage. It had been dark again when she woke up, she'd yet to muster the energy to check her phone for the exact time but dark meant that it was at least late afternoon of the same day, probably later.

_'Maybe I've gotten lucky and it's a thousand years later. All my problems are gone and I can use my knowledge and my power to rule the savage utopia of the future.'_

Finally managing to raise her head from the pillow she'd slumped into, Lisa spat out a few strands of hair and used her sleeve to wipe the drool off her chin. This time the migraine really did seem to be gone, leaving her clear headed enough to decide against leaving her room until morning. No matter what, she needed to stay away from anything that might tempt her to use her power until she was fully recovered.

Proving that the universe was out to get her, immediately after she made her decision there was a hesitant knock at her door.

She stifled the reflexive groan. Only one of her team ever bothered knocking and Brian wouldn't be so quiet about it. Meaning that it was their guest at her door and greeting Taylor with a sign would be the perfect way to cement an impression of her as the bitchy Undersider.

Halfway to the door Lisa remembered that she had slept in her outdoor clothes and whirled to check her appearance in the mirror. The top was okay, but her skirt was way too showy for a casual impression and her leggings were uncomfortably warm now she was paying attention. Shrugging out of her clothes, she grabbed her nicest pair of sweatpants, pulled a random T-shirt over her head and hauled a brush through her hair until it behaved. With that done Lisa glanced at the mirror a final time.

_'Ah, maybe this is too casual. I don't want her to feel like she's intruding...maybe jeans and a bit of make-up would be better?'_

The knock came again while she was still debating her approach. It managed to sound even quieter the second time. Quiet enough that it occurred to Lisa that Taylor might take a lack of answer as a negative answer. Hell, she might have already left.

Desperate not to make the poor girl feel any worse than she already had, Lisa rushed for the door and yanked it open with an apology already rising to her lips.

It stalled in her throat at the sight that greeted her.

The plate with sandwich garnish drew her gaze first. Skinny little bundle of salad and bread that it was, the girl holding the plate still tried to hide behind it. Taylor was humanoid again, any further details hidden beneath an oversized hoodie and loose sweatpants, both of which must have come out of the bad slung over her shoulder. She wasn't much shorter than Lisa but she still managed to look like a child, lost and unsure.

For a panicked second Lisa fumbled to make sense of the food and the bag and thought that the other girl had brought her a snack to say goodbye. Then she gave herself a mental slap and held back her power while she took a real look at the new cape.

She was hiding behind the plate alright, trembling with nervousness. Her bag was most likely an expression of that nervousness. Not a sign that she was intending to leave. She would want to keep her last remaining possessions close at hand. There were probably a few sentimental items in there. Not many though, those clothes shouted practical almost as loudly as they screamed victim.

 _'A poor victim at that. Not to mention tasteless.'_ whispered the snide little voice that was equal parts Sarah and her mother, clinging to her thoughts with a leech's tenacity and charm. Lisa ignored it with the familiar blend of self-loathing and pride. Life on the streets had taught her a lot of things that her parents would never have thought to, like how much a fashion sense was really worth.

Yanking her thoughts back on track, Lisa joined the last few dots. The way Taylor clutched the plate had her power practically begging to whisper answers in her ear. It was almost reminiscent of Rachel...

The lump in Lisa's throat redoubled as she made the connection.

"I'm guessing none of the others are back yet." She noted absently, unable to tear her gaze from the sad little sandwich.

"O-oh! I'm sorry, I mean uh. I-I can pay!" The panic in Taylor's voice snapped Lisa's gaze to her eyes. They were wide and scared and a perfect match for the rapid patter of her voice; "Since no one was around I didn't know if it was okay or not and-!"

"Shh." Lisa interrupted as gently as she could. Resisting the temptation to use her power, she opted to take the long route to finding out what the hell Taylor was thinking. "Now take a breath and explain from the start, please."

"Um, I woke up and I was alone and um, well I would have asked if it was okay I'd known you were still here but since I don't know that you were I just..." Awkwardly trailing off, Taylor gestured with her plate to fill in the silence.

"You can pay?" Prompted Lisa. Perhaps she was just tired but it had seemed a really odd thing to say. Did Taylor's power mess with her ability to talk or something?

"Y-yeah, I have money right here so I can pay you back for the food and I guess for letting me crash on your couch and-"

Lisa didn't hear the rest. Her power had slipped the leash exactly long enough to blurt out just what Taylor meant when she said that she had money with her.

_More than a hundred dollars, saved up a little at a time, less than a hundred and fifty dollars_

Sentimentality wasn't something that Lisa had held onto much of, but even if she'd sooner give Coil a big wet kiss than admit it, there was definitely something in her eye after discovering the extent of Taylor's funds. After hearing the other girl so desperately avoid mentioning her obvious hunger. It brought back memories she tried very hard not to dwell on.

Sarah had taken a lot more than a few hundred dollars with her when she had fled her home, all of it stolen according to the law and stolen back according to what Sarah knew to be right. Of course she'd splurged for a few days after her initial flight -a carefully planned route of buses, trains and endless false leads- was over, thinking herself clever and restrained when she ran through a mere two hundred dollars in her celebration.

It hadn't taken her long to start cursing herself for that waste, only slightly longer than it had taken her to realise just how expensive being a teenage runaway really was. Funds that she'd expected to last for at least a few years had been drained within three months. Every avenue that she knew of for making more money with her power had been closed to her increasingly desperate attempts to replenish her funds.

Until the day came that she had put what she had left back in her pocket and decided that she'd rather spend a night on the streets than wake up in a motel without any idea where her next meal was coming from. That night she'd cried herself to sleep in a dank old warehouse telling herself over and over that things would be better in the morning.

Instead she'd woken up with concrete at her back, agony in her muscles and sharp steel at her throat. Then the steel was gone and she had curled into a ball and thanked every deity she'd ever heard of that all she'd lost was her money.

Three days without food had marked the first time she begged.

One week had been enough for her to start searching through garbage, not that it had gotten her much more than a beating from some chefs and a day of vomiting her food-poisoned guts up, choking on bile and shivering and muttering through the sobs that they were wrong, she wasn't a thief, she had her principles and she would never ever steal. She was better than that.

Eleven days of a cramping stomach and weak limbs and she'd begun wishing that the thief just stabbed her and let her die quickly.

After fifteen days without food, that she hadn't subsequently puked up, she'd been so out of it that her power was the only reason she even knew how long it had been. Then without any idea where she was going she had staggered out of an alleyway and spotted a café terrace filled with tables and chairs and people that she'd once have mimicked her mother in sneering at for being poor. Guided by her power she had spotted one of them walking away from their table, leaving a few notes scattered on top of the bill and a handful of fries still uneaten.

By the time she realised what she was doing or questioned if she had the strength to do it, Lisa Wilbourn was dashing past that table and clutching everything that she'd been able to grab from it. Finding shortcuts and blindspots turned out to be easy when she had her power saved up and ready to use, then she'd been left in a blind alley with pursuit lost and hands full of crumpled notes and squashed fries. All she remembered of the money was that it hadn't been much, but the taste of those fries remained perfectly preserved in her memory, salty and cold and the most wonderful thing she'd ever eaten.

The first thing she ever stole.

Shaking herself out of the memory Lisa found that Taylor had taken her lack of attention as confirmation of her perceived debt and she was no holding out a tired old ten dollar bill with the grip of someone who knew damn well they couldn't afford to part with it. It occurred to Lisa to try and explain to Taylor that she couldn't afford to be that casual with money in her situation, even if she didn't realise that was what she was doing. To explain that there was no reason to feel guilty for emptying their fridge, let alone for taking such a meagre amount from it. Then that little voice spoke up, _'How long would that honour of hers last if she was really truly hungry? A week? A few days?'_

Lisa had grabbed Taylor's hands then, pushing plate and money back towards the other girl as casually as she could. Then she'd thought better of it and snatched up the plate, looking at it like it had personally offended her and speaking before Taylor could draw any wrong conclusions.

"What kind of villains do you think we are? If we only gave you this much to eat then it'd take months to fatten you up for the barbecue!"

Taylor's look of utter confusion reminded Lisa that it might not be the best time for jokes, so she took the other girl by the hand and lead her through to their kitchen with the hopping gait of a girl who had forgotten how cold the floor was and was wishing she'd thought to put slippers on.

Arriving at the blessedly heated and wooden-floored space of the main loft, Lisa made a beeline for the kitchen and plonked the plate down on a countertop before throwing open the fridge. Then she had proceeded to pull out just about everything that wouldn't require more preparation than putting it between two slices of something else.

When Taylor started to voice a question she had cut her off with a smile and a firm request to grab some plates. When Taylor took a step towards her original sandwich Lisa had stepped in to pile an assortment of meats and an abundance of condiments in the other girl's arms. When Taylor finally managed to put them all down and extended the hand still holding that ten dollar bill, Lisa decided that subtext was lost on the other girl and there was no choice but to risk embarrassing them both by talking about it.

She put down most of a roast chicken and looked Taylor dead in the eye before speaking, "Taylor. I know that you're going through a lot right now. I understand more than you might think, which means I know that you're probably feeling all kinds of worried and off balance and questioning everything. Especially us. Which I totally understand...but you don't need to. Now we said you were our guest and that means you can have whatever you damn well please and you don't have to ask anyone, now I'm in the mood for pigging out and I think you might enjoy joining me."

Taylor spoke up, "Wait, I'm a guest? You mean you guys don't mind having me here?"

"Yes of course you're..." Lisa had a sinking feeling of realisation; "...It was Rachel who invited you in, wasn't it."

At Taylor's nod she continued, "I'm guessing she didn't say much, which is pretty normal for her and would, um, explain a lot. Brian and Alec couldn't have thought to clarify anything of course, stupid boys."

"So it wasn't just her offering me a place to wash off and stay the night? I can really stay here?"

Lisa nodded and shrugged off the embarrassment of having over complicated everything. The fragile little smile on Taylor's face went a long way towards helping with that.

"Now come on, grab as much of the food as you can carry and we'll take it to my room. You can sleep in there until we get the other room cleared out and ready for you."

Without waiting for a reply -the best way to get someone to agree to an offer was to never acknowledge any other possibility, another of her mother's rare words of actual wisdom- Lisa swept up her edible booty and led the way back to her room.

Taylor's look of polite horror when she got a good look at the mess was worth the previous awkwardness.

Before long they were both sitting on cushions in a hastily cleared section of the floor, surrounded by food and with a mindless action movie playing on Lisa's laptop to spare either of them from having to make conversation. Or more accurately, to spare Taylor from making conversation and give Lisa time to figure out how best to go about helping her new friend deal with her violent journey to their loft.

Making it absolutely clear that she could stay as long as she liked had been a good start, as had been the casual mention of putting together a permanent room for her. That would hopefully be enough to keep her with them long term. As to where to go from there though, Lisa didn't have much idea.

It was tempting to just rely on her power, even if that would mean waiting until tomorrow at the earliest to make any significant use of it, but there were limits to what it could give her. Knowing Taylor issues in more detail wouldn't magically tell her how to help with those issues, her power could only give her facts and theories, not ideas or plans.

So it was just her people skills versus a newly triggered girl with all the hair-triggers and landmine topics that that entailed. Definitely time to take things nice and slow, or as slow as she could while also maintaining her life as a full time villain. Somehow Lisa doubted her boss would give her time off from his endless requests to help a new friend avoid a total breakdown.

_'Ah fuck it. I've still got that asshole on my brain and I've seen her stifle a dozen yawns since we sat down. We're not getting any further tonight.'_

Relaxing as best she could, Lisa finished her oh-so-unhealthy meal without breaking the not entirely awkward silence between her and Taylor, then she waited for the end of the movie and suggested that it was time to call it a night.

After averting Taylor's worries at having forgotten to bring her toiletries when she was packing her life into that duffle bag, Lisa dug out everything the other girl was likely to need any time soon including a brand new toothbrush, hairbrush and razor. They took turns using the bathroom to get changed and attend to other needs, Lisa suppressed a chuckle at the pattern of owls on Taylor's pyjamas and it was time for some more sweet sweet sleep.

As she climbed into bed by the light of her lamps Lisa was definitely looking forward to being able to use her power properly again, morning couldn't come soon enou-

"Um."

_'Oh damn. What did I do wrong?'_

"What's up?" Lisa said as brightly as she could manage with sleep so close at hand.

"It's just, do you have a spare mattress or something?"

"Not in here." Lisa replied with more than a little confusion; "I mean you can just sleep in my bed."

There seemed to be plenty of room but just to make sure Lisa scooted up tight against the wall and patted the rest of her bed invitingly. Taylor's expression ran a curious sequence of confused, understanding, grossed out and terrified before Lisa decided that whatever ideas she was getting were probably best cut off before they could get out of hand.

Climbing back out of bed, with more than a little regret, Lisa grinned disarmingly.

"Sorry, I haven't had a friend sleeping over since I was a kid. I guess I forgot that a queen size doesn't fit two that comfortably when they're over the age of twelve. You take the bed and I'll go dig out a mattress and some sheets."

Before Taylor could be predictably polite and refuse to take the bed she was out of the door and halfway to the storage room. The mattress wasn't hard to find but getting to it proved to be another matter entirely, they'd piled the room with boxes and packaging and all the bits of furniture that ended up being rejected from the main loft area.

While she wrestled with half a coffee table that had gotten tangled into a roll of christmas lights she swore none of them had actually bought, Lisa reflected that it had been a humbling day as far as her people skills were concerned. Normally she was a lot better with new people than this. Of course normally she didn't deal with new people while fresh off a crippling overuse of her power, but it felt like more than that.

Things didn't quite match up. The images she'd built of Taylor between the news reports and the girl she'd met, they simply didn't mesh. Not only did that have some worrying implications, it was making it extremely hard to figure out an approach even before taking into account how nerve-wrecking it was to be dealing with someone so recently triggered. She wondered if this was how new parents felt, having something so easily damaged in the palm of your hand and being terrified that you'd mess up and destroy it.

Yanking the mattress through obstructions finally paid off when the last of it gave way with a clatter and a sudden lack of anything countering her tugs. After picking herself up off the floor Lisa hauled her burden out the door and started dragging it down the corridor.

Anyway, all the issues with Taylor didn't even get into where she'd simply been stupid and missed something. Like whatever the hell that had been with the bed. Lisa had a feeling that it was one of those times that her obliviousness to a certain facet of the human experience bit her in the ass, but for all she knew Taylor might just have some lingering issues with sharing a bed.

_'I want my power back. So, so much.'_

Lisa returned to her room to find Taylor lying in her bed looking ready to jump out of it at a moment's notice. Rather than waste time assuring her that she could have the bed, Lisa opted to focus on setting up her mattress with sheets and blankets and abundant cushions. All the while watching Taylor slowly relax out of the corner of her eye.

_'And finally a plan goes off without a hitch.'_

When she finally got into bed and turned out the remaining light, she could practically feel sleep creeping up on her. The makeshift bed was surprisingly comfy and Lisa knew from bitter experience that she could have slept on solid stone in the state she was in. Even the dim moonlight filtering in through her window didn't spoil things.

Surprisingly it was Taylor who broke the silence.

"Lisa."

"Hm?" Lisa sleepily responded.

"What are those notes all over the walls? I-if you don't mind me asking."

"Ah, those. They're just my current investigation notes. You can probably imagine that my power is pretty good for that kind of thing, but I can't use it too much at once and it gets really inaccurate if I focus on one thing for too long. I use a lot of notes to help me follow a bunch of avenues at once, normally it works really well."

"You said normally. Is it not working well right now?"

For a breath or two Lisa was surprised that Taylor had picked up on that. Then she felt bad for assuming her temporary roommate wasn't paying attention.

"I am having a bit of trouble. I'm trying to figure out-" 'What the hell, not like I can tell anyone else.' "-someone's power and its not going well."

"I can imagine how that would be hard. My power makes sense to me but I think it would be a little tricky to explain to anyone else, not that I couldn't it's just I can't think of a way to explain what it's like to use it that isn't missing something. Am I making any sense?"

"Yeah. Apparently it's not uncommon for powers to come with minor extra senses to make sense of it, like I'd explain my power as being like having extra thoughts in my head but really that's not quite it. I mean I can always tell the difference between it and my thoughts. I guess powers tend to look different to other people than...they do...to..."

Lisa barely held back from leaping out of her bed, instead she let her eyes dart to her notes, snatching at the sense of inspiration before it could fade away.

_'That's the whole problem. I've been looking at what his power does but that's not the answer or I'd have figured it out ages ago. I need to look at, at what his experience of it is.'_

_Precognition_

It was a familiar verdict, one that made no sense given his demonstrations and that had convinced her for a while that his power countered direct attempts to determine its nature with another power. But what if that was just his experience of it...

_Precognition, simulation, simulates hypothetical events given initial data_

Finally it made sense, finally all the disparate elements came together to explain why her power was stuck on precognition when everything he did said probability manipulation. She fucking had him at last!

_Simulates events based on initial decision, -her power continued, taking in every scrap of information she had gathered on his limitations and lacks thereof- simulates events in parallel, simulates alternate actions_

_'That makes sense. It would explain how he kept cutting off my escape plans when I first got here, because he can simulate events that would force me to trigger them.'_

_Allows determination of enemies' actions given alternate personal actions, allows determination of allies actions given alternate personal actions, allows determination of personal responses given alternate personal actions_

Her power was running wild and she knew that she should really reign it in for the sake of recovering but she was just so damn happy to have gotten a win against that rat fucking piece of shit. _'Let it have its fun.'_

_Allows experience of events given alternate personal actions, allows experience of events given unwise personal actions_

_'Oooh, that's interesting. I wonder what's he's done with it.'_

_Utilised power to experience overeating_

_'That would explain how he stays so damn thin.'_

_Utilised power to experience narcotics, utilised power to experience sadism_

_'Wha-!?'_ Her thoughts redirected her power without her even noticing it.

_Utilised power to torture random civilians, utilised power to torture employees, utilised power to torture employees for information, utilised power to torture employees for enjoyment, utilised power to torture employees for satisfaction of grievances_

The bottom had dropped out of Lisa's stomach. She felt like she was falling, falling down into all those nightmares of him following through on his threats. Or were those even nightmares at all?

 _Tortures me for information, tortures me for fun,_ -Lisa barely held back the urge to hyperventilate as the implications hit her- _tortures me regularly, tortures me whenever I meet his men alone, tortures me when I attend bimonthly meetings_

She made the connection quickly enough that it felt like her power was echoing her thoughts.

_'He's going to torture me the next time we meet.'_

_Plans to torture me again in seventeen days_

The happiness was obliterated, her meagre victory turned to ashes as she realised that he might have already gotten everything out of her. Every plan, every scheme, for all she knew he had gotten every last treasured secret out of her broken lips already. She desperately suppressed her power before it could tell her anything else. If it started described exactly what he'd done to her then she wasn't sure she'd be able to hold onto her meal any longer, a nausea creeping through her that had nothing to do with the slight pain in her head.

"Hey Lisa? You got really quiet, are you okay?" Taylor brought her back to reality. Back to her familiar room that suddenly seemed a hell of a lot less safe without all the others there too.

_'No. No and I'm never going to be okay ever again.'_

"Y-yeah, just tired is all. We should get some sleep."

* * *

 


	6. Vixen - 3

* * *

Lisa dragged herself out of bed the next morning with a fire in her heart. Nightmares had tormented her through the night, making her very grateful that Taylor was such a heavy sleeper, though nightmares were hardly anything new. Knowing that they might be realised, that she might be remembering simulated horrors rather than imagining them? That was something new. That was something equal parts terrifying and infuriating.

It was also the very last fucking straw.

Employment under Coil had come with a lot of downsides, more downsides than upsides really. Humiliation, restriction, constant fear, all of those things she had been able to learn to live with to some degree. Perhaps more than she should have allowed herself to. However this discovery crossed the line. It jarred her out of the rut she had worked her way into, the sense of if not comfort then at least familiarity.

There was no more time to waste, Lisa had an almost literal deadline and she had absolutely no plans to stick around for it.

Well, she had no desire to stick around for it. Memories of her early attempts at fleeing the city told her exactly what her chances were if she just ran off half-cocked trying to get out of the Bay. Not to mention that while she could stand to leave behind her neighbourhood friends if it really came to it, she would have felt more than a little guilty about just leaving her team out to dry like that. The three of them were stupid immature assholes, but they were her assholes dammit. They had carved out a place in her battered heart, whether she liked it or not.

Then there was Taylor to think about. Who would keep an eye out for her if Lisa left? No there were just too many reasons why that wasn't an option.

Unfortunately after three days of planning, examining her plans and then discarding them as unworkable and doomed to fail, Lisa was starting to wonder if she had any options at all.

On the tail of a third night with only snatches of sleep, she'd forced herself to face facts. She couldn't run, or hide, or fight. She refused to even consider begging. Which left her with nothing. No options but to wait...

Lisa stared at her ceiling as dawn broke through her window and clenched her fists in silent fury. Then she blew out a gentle breath, mindful of her roommate's slumber, and continued the thought to the only conclusion she had.

Chances were that she was going to be tortured and...she'd just have to hope it stayed in the simulation. With that agonising realisation in mind, she switched her focus to defending herself as best she could.

Even if he could act recklessly in a simulation, that still wouldn't let him achieve the impossible.

_'Right?'_

_Power simulates events given personal actions, simulation limited by personal capabilites_

_'Right.'_

After mulling that over for a while, rolling over to one side and then the other before finally settling back on her back, Lisa resolved to avoid being alone as much as possible. Her team would defend her against any sudden mercenary ambushes, so as long as she stayed close to them at all times, he wouldn't be able to simulate grabbing her. Not that it would help with the meetings, but it would at least cut down on his opportunities.

Of course, if she really wanted to go that route then the best way to stop any simulated torture was to set things up so such attempts would fail. To resolve that if she found herself in that kind of situation then...

She found her eyes drawn to the holster slung over her dressing mirror, drawn to the familiar gun resting within.

The easiest way to...accomplish...the goal in question, would be to...to...well...

An image flashed behind her eyes, a memory she never could decide if she wanted to forget or not. The silence came back to her, the quiet that had replaced Rex's laugh and his yell and his sigh and everything else that she'd loved and hated about him. It had smelt awful, but it was the quiet that stuck with her still. Only broken by that horrible little creak.

_'It's not the same. It's not.'_

Whether or not she could follow through on that kind of resolve...Lisa didn't know...It, it wasn't hard to see the downsides to that plan either. The risks if she thought he was grabbing her when he wasn't. What she might do. What...

Lisa very deliberately broke that train of thought and fixed her gaze on the ceiling. She did her best to find the familiar patterns of wear, but they blurred and twisted until they were unrecognisable. Biting her lip helped her stay quiet, helped her not to think about the hot stinging trails descending from her eyes.

Then that hateful little voice whispered a memory, _'There will be important people there Sarah, I won't have you looking hideous because of a silly little fit. Now where's your concealer?'_

Just like back then, it didn't help her control the tears. So she folded her pillow over her face and muffled the noise as best as she could.

"Damn it..."

"Lisa?"

She froze. Her grief buried by the fear of adding to Taylor's burdens.

"Lisa? Are you awake?"

Hurriedly drying her eyes on the pillow case, Lisa cleared her throat and replied, "Y-yeah! I'm up, just have a- have a bit of a sore throat is all."

"Oh, I thought you said...never mind. Would you like me to get you anything?"

"A glass of water? Sorry to ask."

"N-no, it's not a problem!" Taylor blurted out as she leapt out of bed. The other girl rushed to pull on the robe Lisa had lent her (though it seemed pointless with the t-shirt and shorts that she was already wearing) then dashed out the door.

Suppressing a pang of guilt at her deception, Lisa shed her blankets and grabbed a few items off her dressing table.

Dab up the tears with some tissues, wipes to clear off what remained and then a quick application of foundation to hide the redness. She was just setting it all back down on the dressing table when Taylor burst back into the room with a tall glass of water and concern etched on her face.

"It's no big deal, don't look so worried." Lisa reassured her.

"Are you- yeah of course you're sure. I'm sorry."

Lisa managed a smile, "You don't need to apologise."

"I know, it's just..."

_'Well that sounds ominous.'_

"Just...?"

"Well you've been kinda...I mean y-you've been a bit...preoccupied? For the last few days."

It was pretty obvious she had more to say, so Lisa held back the urge to reply. To rush out an explanation, or, more honestly, an excuse.

Sure enough Taylor continued, "I thought...I thought it might be because of me-"

"No! No, that's not it at all. It was something else. Nothing to do with you."

At the other girl's doubtful look, she added, "I can't really tell you what's going on, but it's nothing for you to worry about. I promise."

Rather than give Taylor time to worry any more than she already had, Lisa slung an arm over her shoulder and took the initiative as she steered both of them out into the hall. She kept her tone cheerful as she declared, "Enough about all that. I say we go grab some breakfast and see about dragging Alec off the big screen so we can watch something we're years too old for. What do you think?"

However when they came out into the main space, it was deserted. No sign of Alec, or any of the others.

"Huh. Normally he's camped out on the sofa for his early morning gaming time. Is he sick?"

Lisa wasn't exactly worried about Alec, that guy would weather an apocalypse just so he could aggravate the other survivors, but more by the idea of a flu in the enclosed and confined space of the loft. Last time one of them had gotten sick it had rapidly spread to the others and given them all a very uncomfortable week.

"Don't you remember?" Taylor spoke up, "He said the day before yesterday that he was camping outside some store for a few days, he wanted to get a new game that's coming out."

That froze Lisa in her tracks.

_'He's been gone two days!? How did I not notice that?'_

Except she knew why she hadn't noticed, enough that she could cut off her power before it shouted the answer. The truth was she hadn't paid attention to much of anything for the last four days. It was no surprise that, looking back, she had no idea what any of the others had been doing in that time. Thoughts of imminent torture had focused her mind like a laser.

_'Fat lot of good it did me.'_

Well it was time to focus on something she could actually do something about. It might be late, but Lisa just had to hope that it wasn't too late. Even if she couldn't save herself it would be nice to help someone else avoid completing their own downward spiral.

So she got back to dragging Taylor to the couch, then left her there while she prepared a breakfast consisting of about ninety percent sugar. Appropriate for the show that Taylor had settled on by the time she got the food over to the couch and sat down with a comfortable distance between them.

After a few minutes of watching a collection of felt puppets sing about the marvels of sharing, Lisa turned to face her breakfast companion and raised an eyebrow. To her delight, Taylor returned it with one of her own and even mumbled, "You said 'something we're years too old for'. You didn't say how many years."

"Touché." Lisa found her grin weakly mirrored and her spirits lifted a little. "I was thinking something within a few years, more middle school than kindergarten."

Despite her clearer instructions, Taylor managed to find two more cringe-worthy shows before dropping the joke and locating a cartoon featuring an abundance of wise-cracking animals. Lisa didn't need any kind of power to see that Taylor had good memories of it, so she stayed quiet and let the other girl enjoy the simple pleasure while she considered how best to help her.

_'She's a lot less judgemental than I think I'd be in her shoes. Or is she just covering it up.'_

Where others had the luxury of asking such a question without fear of the answer. Lisa did not.

_Frustrated at being ignored, frustrated at being frustrated with being ignored, guilty for being frustrated with being ignored, frustrated at being frustrated at being-_

Lisa yanked her power away from the loop and focused it back onto Taylor's mood, onto her fragile expression of happiness.

_Enjoying company, enjoying sense of closeness, enjoying pleasant memories, frustrated by unpleasant memories, distrustful due to unpleasant memories, angry at unpleasant memories, angry at herself for recalling unpleasant memories,_

_'Well that certainly says a lot about her. So what should I d-'_

A heavy hand against her shoulder snapped Lisa out of her thoughts and nearly made her jump right out of her skin. When she turned to look over her shoulder, the owner of that hand was just as surprising.

Rachel was standing behind the couch in a faded t-shirt and a ragged pair of sweatpants, her usual sleepwear. The hesitant expression she was wearing was a lot less usual.

"Morning Rachel, can I help you with something?"

The normal scowl returned, then faltered as she replied, "The show. Can I watch it with you?" Directing the question equally to both of girls on the couch.

Unsurprisingly Taylor stayed silent, clearly ready to follow Lisa's lead. Not that Lisa could see any reason to say no.

Smiling was a bad idea around Rachel, but Lisa tried to inject some cheer into her reply, "Sure, the more the merrier."

Rachel grunted her opinion of that particular saying and clambered over the back of the couch to find a seat between Lisa and Taylor. For a moment Lisa considered trying the communicate to her that Taylor needed some space, only for Rachel to surprise her again by moving away from Taylor. She casually patted the floor and whistled her dogs to settle there, as if she was just clearing the space for them.

_Tense, uncomfortable with proximity to me, more comfortable in centre of couch_

Lisa wasn't fooled. Confused, but not fooled.

Rachel ignored the assortment of cereals, poptarts and pancakes that Lisa had set out on the coffee table. Pulling a banana from her pocket and starting to eat it in a determined silence while she glared at the screen like it had given her dogs flees.

_Relaxing, relaxing due to food, relaxing due to cartoon, relaxing due to enjoyment of cartoon_

_'Hah! Can't get anything past me Rachel.'_

Lisa suppressed the urge to examine Rachel's fondness for the show, unwilling to pry without some kind of reason. Given her fellow teenage hobo's history it wasn't hard to imagine where it might stem from anyway.

Since craning to look around Rachel would be pretty obvious, Lisa opted to settle back and wait for an opportunity to observe Taylor more. Rushing it would just risk scaring the girl off after all. After a while she even felt a little relief from her worries.

The crushing sense of helpless terror was still there. Still clenching her heart and trampling her guts, but it was distant somehow. Held at bay for a while by bright colours and sugar and company that was at least three quarters friendly.

Still all good things come to abrupt and painful ends. In this case it came after almost two hours of cartoons, when all three of them got bored with an ad-break and Lisa began flicking through channels for something else to watch. Landing for on a very familiar image for a chilling instant before she hit the next channel button and hoped against hope that-

"Wait! Wait, please, go back."

_'Dammit Taylor, you couldn't have looked away? Just for a second?'_

Devoid of a good reason not to do as she asked, Lisa switched the channel back to the news and turned up the volume without being prompted. The front view of Winslow High did a damn good job of sucking the cheer out of the room.

_'Well framed though. They got all of the damage to the third floor corridor in one good shot, with the workmen in there it's a good combination of scary and hopeful.'_

Her musing on the PR skill of the media was interrupted by an expert in the field.

"Yes that's right John, the damage has been surveyed and I've been told that students at Winslow will be returning to school next week. Though full repairs could take as long as a month." The reporter coming into focus had the kind of natural glow and tousled blonde hair that only came from over an hour of hair and make-up professionals, along with a very carefully effected expression of sympathy.

"That's good to hear Stacy, and what's the news on the culprit of this attack? Have the PRT released any further information." The disembodied anchor prompted.

"No John. The PRT has maintained its standard policy of minimal information concerning ongoing investigations and the Protectorate have yet to release any further statements since they confirmed Shadow Stalker was first on scene, almost seven days ago."

She gestured off screen and a pretty brunette about Taylor's age stepped into the shot, the girl's eyes clearly tracking whoever was giving her cues.

"However we have Miss Julia Prezi here with us today, she was an eye-witness to the attack and one of those that Taylor Hebert targeted. What's more she was one of the first to have the courage to identify their attacker to the media. Now Julia, could you tell us a little about what happened?"

Lisa's attention was pulled from the repetition of the same narrative the news had been spewing all week by a pained creaking. Then she found the source of the noise and she forgot the news report entirely in her shock.

Taylor was squeezing the arm of the couch in a hand that had sprouted hair and claws, squeezing it hard enough that Lisa was amazed she hadn't torn through the fabric already. Her face was twisted in a rictus of anger, looking almost bestial with fury.

_'Wait, no, she actually looks bestial. Those, those are fangs.'_

In spite of herself, Lisa cringed away from the other girl. Even with Rachel between them...

_'Why isn't...what the hell is Rachel...?'_

The other girl, normally so ready to jump on anything she perceived as a threat, was looking at Taylor -who was almost growling as the girl on screen continued her story- with an expression Lisa had never seen her direct at a human being before. Sympathy.

"Well it's all a bit hazy, but I think that was when Shadow Stalker arrived." Mumbled the girl on screen. She looked torn between delight and terror, and it was clearly taking all the reporter's skill to get the story out of her in a telegenic fashion.

"I understand that she gave a pretty impressive showing in front of you all."

"Yeah, I mean it was really scary, but she just stood there and told us to get out of there, that she'd take care of it."

_'How amazing, she must have another power that let her say a different one-liner to every girl they've interviewed so far.'_

"So it's no exaggeration to say that our city's very own Shadow Stalker saved your lives?"

As if she'd been saving all her composure up for this one reply, Julia broke into an innocent smile and practically chirped, "Not just us, she saved everyone in the school from that psycho. Shadow Stalker is a real hero."

"That's fucking bullshit!" Taylor exploded. Leaping to her feet and stepping forward with her claws raised to-

"Taylor!" Lisa shouted.

She stumbled to a stop halfway to the television, her anger giving way to a look of wide-eyed confusion. Like she didn't know how she'd gotten to where she was standing.

Lisa kept her tone gentle, using her gaze to keep Taylor's attention off the remote as she turned down the volume, "Just calm down. It's okay, no-one here is going to believe them."

Rather than cheering up, Taylor practically deflated at those words. The effect was enhanced by the way her bestial traits melted back into the girl who had raided their kitchen for a mini-sandwich, Lisa noting out of the corner of her eye how Rachel tensed up in sync with the return of Taylor's human form.

She shuffled back to the couch and flopped onto it, glowering in a less terrifying fashion at the muted screen that now showed a repeat of the PRT's last press statement. Lisa recognised it by the presence of Triumph in the background, trying to look calm and confident and blatantly telegraphing his frustration even to those without Thinker powers. She was certain he'd gotten a dressing down from Halbeard for failing to capture a fugitive who practically walked into him.

"Lisa, could you turn it back up?" She couldn't help the dubious glance she gave Taylor. "I-I promise not to get angry again, I just...I need to hear it."

_'Maybe, but I doubt it'll make you feel any better.'_

Even so, she hit the volume and braced herself for whatever the reaction was going to be.

"At approximately five o'clock today the parahuman fugitive Taylor Hebert, aka Runt, was discovered attempting to enter her place of residence. The guard detail assigned to her father prioritised his safety in accordance with PRT protocol and Runt fled the scene. Owing to her power's utility for escape, pursuit was unable to catch her and she remains at large."

A photo of Taylor came up on screen. It looked like a school photo and was at least a few months out of date, not that it made much difference as far as stripping her of her public identity.

"The PRT would like to advise everyone that Runt is extremely volatile and that she should not be approached under any circumstances. If you see her the-"

The picture cut out, Lisa barely aware that she'd hit the power button.

_'Surely you've heard enough Taylor? Either way, I don't think I can let you watch any more of this.'_

Lisa was expecting a long silence, but Taylor spoke up almost immediately.

"They're lying. Why would they...why won't they tell the truth?"

_'I wonder if I was ever that naïve? Probably worse.'_

"Oh Taylor. It's not about the truth. It's about stories."

The look Taylor gave her made it clear what her opinion was, of these particular stories and of any defence of them. Which was a better expression than blank misery, but still not a good one.

"I'm not justifying it, I'm explaining it." Once the other girl's glare eased, Lisa continued, "This is about telling a story. A story that people can believe, that they want to believe."

"You mean a lie."

"No. People tell lies when they know what the truth is and they want it to be something else. People tell stories when they don't know what the truth is, but they know what they want it to be."

"So nobody cares what So-"

"Please don't finish that name." Lisa interrupted, "Please. That's something I'd really rather not know."

"Sorry..." Taylor looked guilty for a moment, then the anger returned, "So nobody cares what Shadow Stalker actually did?"

"Nobody even knows what she did. People don't care about the truth when they think they already know it."

"Well, I could tell-"

"Taylor." Lisa interrupted as gently as she could, "Nobody is going to believe you. Nobody wants to believe you."

Before Taylor could respond, Lisa stood up, squeezed past Rachel and sat on the coffee table so she could look her new friend in the eye.

"Nobody is looking for the truth, not when there's a story they want to believe right in front of them. A story about a hero who acted like a hero and won, and a villain who acted like a villain and lost. The kind of story that people want to hear."

Taylor's voice was very small. "What about the other heroes? Won't they try to find out what happened?"

"Once you get past all the bright costumes and superpowers, the white hats," She paused at Taylor's look of incomprehension, "-the heroes, are basically cops. And like all cops they like to give one another the benefit of the doubt. It isn't even anything sinister most of the time, it's just that their job means they have to really trust one another and that trust doesn't just go away when they get back to base."

Lisa stood up and walked over to the television, staring into the black mirror that it had become.

"People tend to believe the best of the people they put their trust in. The heroes are no different. The Wards don't want to believe that a Ward would do what she did to you, the Protectorate don't want to believe they let a Ward get away with anything like that and they'd all much rather believe that she bravely protected her classmates from a rampaging villain. So as long as most of the evidence points to what they want to believe in, I doubt any of them are going to go digging into any holes in her story."

"It's not fair."

"No. It's not."

_'And you have no idea how much I wish it was.'_

Then Rachel did the unexpected yet again, speaking up from where Lisa had almost forgotten she was sitting.

"Hey, that Julie girl said something about your power."

Taylor looked a little lost, "Huh?"

"Your power. She said you used it on someone else. You can do that?"

"Yeah, I don't really know what it does exactly but I used it on E- On one of the bi- One of the fucks who attacked me. Oh, and a PRT agent at my house."

"Then what's the problem?"

"What do you mean, what's the problem?" Taylor shot back with some heat.

_'Oh fuck.'_

But Rachel didn't explode, or even react to the tone. She just kept talking, "They fucked with you, you fucked them up, and you got away afterwards. So you won."

"I got my ass kicked so badly that I'd probably have died if you hadn't saved me, and it wore off anyway."

Rachel snorted. "Everyone gets their ass kicked sometime. You hurt them more than they hurt you, then you got away. So you won."

Then, apparently satisfied that she'd said all that she needed to say, Rachel stood up walked over to the fridge like nothing had happened. Leaving Taylor looking like she wasn't sure what to think and Lisa feeling a little like the world had skipped a step.

_'Rachel never acts like that. Ever. What the fuck? What in the actual-'_

A painfully familiar ringtone cut through her thoughts, her meagre good cheer draining away yet again.

With a heavy sigh, Lisa turned to face Taylor.

"Sorry, I have to take this. It's our boss."

"You have a boss?"

Lisa nodded and muttered under her breath, "Unfortunately." Before walking briskly to her room and, once the door was firmly closed behind her, answering her cellphone.

"Good morning Tattletale."

His voice caught her off guard, pulling at the threads of half-remembered nightmares. It was so easy to imagine that voice whispering some sadistic crap while he-

"Good morning boss," Lisa forced herself to say, "-I hope you got plenty of beauty sleep."

It was a weak response, but under the circumstances she was quite proud of it. Of course being a complete asshole, Coil didn't even do her the courtesy of getting annoyed.

"I did. Now I have a job for you and your team."

'I'm amazed he doesn't call us 'his team' in these calls.'

"Sure, what do you need stolen this time?" Hopefully something in an office, or at least not another armoured car. Those things were a humongous pain in the ass.

"A ledger."

"Can't you just buy one at the store? Or order one of your minions to do it for you?"

"I thought that was what I was doing." Lisa almost crowed at the break in his detached composure, adding the small victory to her mental tally, "Anyway, this is no ordinary ledger. It belongs to one of the Empire's capes."

_'And there's the other shoe dropping.'_

"Which one?"

"Hookwolf."

"What!?" 'Has he lost his fucking mind?'

"Hookwolf, I would have thought you'd have heard of him."

"Of course I've heard of him, and the ledger you're talking about as well! If you think that the other's are going to agree to a plan where we steal the Empire's master bookkeeping ledger then you don't know them very well! That's fucking suicide!"

"Really? I'd say the same to you Tattletale. I think that they'll be happy to do it for a hundred and fifty thousand."

_'...Holy shit, now that's a payday.'_

She couldn't resist. "Each?"

"No, not each. To split between you, plus the value of whatever else you can get out of the Empire's little treasure house."

_'Their 'treasure house'? Colour me impressed.'_

"You know where the Empire's main stash is? Did you blackmail Kaiser or something?"

"No. I know where it's going to be. Seventeen, Elmore Street, in eight days."

_'Eight days! Wait...maybe...'_

"Eight days? Cutting it pretty close don't you think?"

"I'm sure you'll be up to the challenge."

"I'm sure too. I'm just not sure if I'll be able to make time for our meeting if you want-"

"We can delay the next meeting. I want your entire focus on this job."

It was all Lisa could do not to let her relief show. She had bought herself more time to plan, even if it came with a job that made her go weak at the knees just thinking about it.

"Yes sir Mr Boss man sir. We're on the case."

There was silence from the other end and Lisa wondered if she'd finally annoyed him into having a stroke. Then he spoke up in the same chillingly calm voice as ever. "Just remember not to disappoint me. Sarah."

He hung up.

_Power play, reminding_

_'I know what he was doing!'_

Lisa dropped her phone and slumped face down onto her bed, noting the occasional short hair with a little distaste. Taylor was a nice girl but her sleeping habits weren't kind to sheets. It was amazing she hadn't clawed them to shreds by now.

_'That's good news right there, he would have brought up Taylor before using my name, so he probably has no idea she's here.'_

Any advantage could be the key after all.

_'I have advantages here. I have a cape he doesn't know about. I have time to work with.'_

Lisa rolled onto her back and blew a raspberry at the ceiling just because she could.

"I have a job to plan for."

Hauling herself upright, Lisa scooped up her phone and headed back to the living area as she went over what she would need to do in her head.

Then because Rachel had decided to act like a different person all of a sudden, she found her path blocked by the stocky girl standing in the doorway to the storage room and holding one end of a metal table with some difficulty. Peering around the door frame gave Lisa a clear view of Taylor holding the other end with no difficulty at all.

"Um?"

"She said you guys were going to clear this room for her." said Rachel in a tone that was almost friendly by her standards.

Lisa looked to Taylor again and found the girl blushing a little. She was obviously uncomfortable asking for help, but with the state they'd left the storage room in Lisa knew that she should help out. They'd need her if they were going to get done before midnight.

She thought about what else she had waiting for her to do. The work that was going to be involved in an attack on something as well guarded as the Empire's most prized possessions. The amount of planning she'd have to do, how far she'd need to push her power, all with a tight schedule to keep to on pain of hideous hideous pain.

All of which came after the chore of talking them into accepting the job, though the money would help quite a bit with that part.

She really should just call Brian and get on with it.

She really should...

_'What's the point in being a supervillain if you don't make bad choices now and then?'_

"Just give me a minute to get changed. These are my favourite pyjamas and I'm sure I saw slugs in there when I got the mattress out."

* * *

 


	7. Vixen - 4

* * *

 

"I hate Miss Militia."

"Racist." Was Alec's tired attempt at a rejoinder. He didn't even bother to look back at her from where he was climbing out of the van.

"It's not racist to be annoyed at someone after they shot you." She shot back as she followed him out onto the abandoned factory floor, Rachel trailing behind her amidst a canine mob.

"Totally racist." Came the bland reply.

"You weren't shot, stop whining." Brian snapped over the scrape of the closing shutters. Once they were secured he stalked over with the van keys in one hand and their prize in the other, his helmet already yanked off and held in the crook of his arm.

_Angry at successful job, angry at nature of plan, angry at loss of reputation_

Lisa flapped a hand at him in as she struggled to gather her thoughts, "Yes yes, I know."

"Know what?"

_'Someone's cranky.'_

"That a crossbow bolt hurts worse, I'm just saying that this hurts too. And it totally counts as being shot."

Brian opened his mouth without dropping his scowl, then closed it and seemed to consider his words a little. His expression softened slightly before he replied, "It was a beanbag round Lisa, you're not dying."

"That's easy for you to say. She nailed me right in the tit!" Lisa prodded at her tender chest in demonstration, finding to her complete lack of surprise that it still hurt like hell. "This costume doesn't have a lot of padding you know, I'm gonna have such a fucking bruise and it won't fade for weeks."

"Well, I guess you'll have to put your career as a swimsuit model on hold for a while."

Lisa stuck her tongue out at him, feeling equal parts glad to have chipped away at his bad mood and annoyed that it came at her own expense.

Her mood lightened as all four of them approached the stairs up to the loft and Lisa ducked around Alec just so she could be the first one up them. Even the bolts of pain that each step sent through her ribs and chest wasn't enough to slow her down. Just thinking of her lovely warm soft bed was enough to-

Like running into a smoke bomb, Lisa was overwhelmed halfway up the stairs by a mouth watering bouquet of scents. Roast chicken dominated, tugging at memories of family dinners in days that felt like they belonged to another lifetime. As she cleared the stairs she reflected that in a way they did, though either way she had bigger things to worry about right now.

Like the dishes of various foods that covered the middle third of their oversized planning table to the point that she almost expected it to bend under the weight. Which probably meant the big freezer was empty.

At a glance Lisa -with the eyes of a girl raised on professional chefs- could tell that none of it was cooked particularly well, nor particularly badly. Still there was an undeniable charm to it all. To food that was so clearly home cooked, a stark contrast to the usual fare of the loft, consisting as it did of food that was either ready made or easy to cook.

If she hadn't been in so much pain, it might have been tempting. As it was it just made her want to sigh because as the cook came into view, holding a steaming roast chicken and wearing an apron Alec had bought Brian a few months back over her usual baggy clothes, Lisa could almost feel what was coming next.

"The fuck's all this?" Announced Alec as he came up the stairs behind her, sounding bemused and a little disbelieving.

Taylor froze and visibly groped for a reply, buying herself time by placing her burden down on the table. She failed to find a response before Alec continued with a mocking grin, "Are you having a dinner party while we're out? Inviting all your friends?"

"Um, well I, I figured you guys would be hungry after...and well, I'm...I mean..."

It was Alec's turn to be lost for words, though characteristically he got over it a lot faster. "You cooked...for us?"

Taylor nodded and her mouth began to twitch with the beginnings of a smile.

Then Alec shrugged and walked right past the table, snatching a piece of bread on his way past, without another glance at either it or Taylor. He didn't slow down until he reached the door to his room, and stepped through it with just as little hesitation.

Through it all Lisa found herself with a horribly clear view of Taylor's face as the fledgling smile was driven from it.

_hmph_

Turning at the exhalation Lisa saw Brian standing on the penultimate step and wearing an expression even she would describe as unreadable. If only because she had already used her power quite enough for one day.

He abruptly went from impersonating a statue to doing his best impression of a rolling boulder, stomping forward with his gaze fixed on the corridor to his oft-unused room and striving -it seemed to Lisa- to give the impression that anything that got in his way would be crushed underfoot. Personally she thought his effort was wasted, since he'd picked a route that kept him as far from Taylor as possible without clambering over their furniture.

Finally it was just Taylor, -looking close to tears- Lisa -torn between the needing sleep and not wanting to hurt the other girl any further- and Rachel, -coming up the stairs after finishing her usual lengthy session of belly rubs and dog grooming down on the factory floor- left in the living area. Which was one more Undersider than Lisa would have predicted would hang around for a team meal if she'd been asked a few weeks ago.

_'Seriously Taylor, what did you think was going to happen?'_

As soon as she'd thought it, Lisa felt awful. Taylor barely knew them. How could she know that they'd react so poorly to such a gesture? She'd just been trying to do something for them, to pay them back for the debt she had decided existed despite Lisa's repeated assurances to the contrary.

_'If it's anyone's fault then it's mine. I knew she felt bad about staying here without doing anything, it was obvious she'd do something like this.'_

_skreeeek_

Lisa lifted her head to find that Rachel had dragged out one of the chairs while she was lost in her thoughts. The butch girl glanced up to find both Taylor and Lisa staring at her, actually colouring slightly before she barked, "Well are we eating or what?"

Those words brought Taylor back to life, suddenly she was nodding and hurrying to the kitchen where she turned off the background hum of the oven and hung Brian's apron on the fridge door. Then she was on her way back with three glasses and a jug of what looked like fruit juice and Lisa knew she couldn't just leave.

Wincing at the way every movement tugged at her bruises, she sat down opposite Rachel. Taylor pulled out the seat beside her and set about serving the food, having to stretch across the table to collect Rachel's plate from her. The absence of the others still hung over everything, but...

Taking her plate, Lisa grabbed the gravy boat - _'Homemade too. So she's about a hundred percent better at cooking then I am.'_ \- and drowned her chicken, mashed potatoes and peas in it. When Taylor gestured at the other dishes she nodded to each one and soon had a second plate piled high with quite an eclectic mix of side dishes. If she had to stay awake and be without lots of painkillers then she was damn well going to enjoy herself.

They ate in silence for a few bites, then Taylor asked, "Are you alright?"

_'Wait, was that directed at me?'_

_target indicated by body language, target of question is me_

_'Wooo power! Way to come through when I need it.'_

Lisa lifted her head from where she'd almost buried it in her plate and nodded as smoothly as she could. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little shot is all."

She immediately regretted her choice of words when Taylor shot up, almost sending her own plate flying.

"With a beanbag!" Lisa raised a hand to ward off the rush of concern, "Not with a bullet or anything, just a beanbag."

Taylor returned to her seat and prodded her food. Which drew Lisa's attention to how much smaller a portion she'd taken. Especially compared to the mountains both Undersiders had before them. At first it hadn't struck Lisa as unusual for her to have little appetite, but as the days ticked by it was seeming less and less like lingering trauma and more and more like she was punishing herself.

"So who was it?" Taylor murmured.

"Who?"

"Who shot you?"

"Oh." Lisa considered her reply, Taylor already had too much resentment for the heroes, adding to it might make her do-

"Miss Militia." Said Rachel, driving Lisa to suppress a frustrated moan. "We were getting away and she got one last shot in. Nearly knocked her off Bentley."

Responding to his name, the bulldog barked excitably then settled down at a sharp gesture from Rachel.

"Hmm, that's not a bad topic really." Lisa mused. "We need something to talk about, so how about it Taylor? Want to hear about the job we just pulled?"

"I already heard you guys planning it though, you were stealing some blueprints right?"

"That was just the goal you heard. The fun part was that we had to do it without anyone realising we did it. Otherwise the plans would be worhtless."

Taylor leant closer, "So how'd you do it?"

"Well you know about Brian's power? How he makes darkness?" Too late Lisa remembered that bringing up Brian and Alec might not be a good idea.

"Um, I, I guess-"

"Well it's not just darkness, it also blots out radiation. Including radio waves."

"So?"

"So most cameras are wireless these days, and it's obvious what he can do to a guard's radio if he puts a sheet of darkness behind them. Point is that Brian can be pretty good at the cat burglar stuff when he needs to be."

"Brian stole the blueprints then?"

"Nope," Lisa grabbed the salt and pepper shakers from the table and thumped them down beside the chicken, "Brian and Alec together, Brian's no good with locks and Alec can distract guards without them knowing a cape is around. Both of them went after the city planning office." She pointed to the chicken, indicating it was now standing for the main target.

"Then what were you two doing?"

Lisa cast around on the table and eventually settled on a ketchup bottle and the almost depleted gravy boat, placing both beside her own plate. "We were the distraction, see the Protectorate patrol routes would have brought them way too close to the target for our liking. Rachel and I hit a jewellery store to draw them away from it."

"Your plate's the jewellery store?"

"Yep." Lisa ignored the note of dubiousness in Taylor's voice, "So we waited for the right time and then we smashed the front door in." She selected a slice of chicken to represent the door and devoured it for dramatic effect. Also because it was tasty.

Rachel grunted unhappily.

"Sorry, then Rachel smashed the front door in."

"If you robbed a jewellery store then where's the..." Taylor didn't seem to know what word to use.

"Loot?" Lisa waited for a nod before continuing, "We didn't steal anything."

"Why not? You were there anyway."

"Jewellery stores are shit." Rachel chimed in with all the grace of a wrecking ball, "Even during the day they don't keep the expensive shit out front. At night it's all locked up."

Lisa grabbed for control of the conversation. "Specifically it's locked up in a vault. The kind with all kinds of security that sucks to get through in a hurry." Swirling a hole in her potatoes with the tip of her fork, Lisa transferred a couple of peas into her model vault.

"I think I get it...that means it wouldn't be suspicious if you took too long to do it."

"That's right, and its small enough that it won't have thrown up too many alarms that there were just two of us. Anyway, Rachel stood guard," Lisa set the bottle so it faced the right way, "-and I got busy on the vault," She poked the gravy boat until it almost touched the potatoes, "-then we just had to wait."

A banana landed beside her hand, Rachel pointing to it and saying, "Miss Militia."

Not to be outdone, Lisa reached across for the same fruit bowl the banana had come from -ignoring how it hurt to stretch- and plucked out an apple, "Clockblocker." And then a pear, "Browbeat."

With her pieces selected, she arranged them such that they formed the points of a triangle around her plate.

"You guys were surrounded?"

"Only technically, we weren't expecting the Wards to be with her, but practice patrols have a bunch of red tape about how they can deploy the Wards if they come across anything. Basically Miss Militia covered the front and the Wards were at the back, though you should be able to tell from my model, I think it's pretty clear."

Both girls she was sharing the table with looked at Lisa's plate with a hefty dose of confusion.

_'Oh so that's how it is? See if I make models next time.'_

"Fine, no more model, short version it is." Lisa tipped her chair back and stared at the ceiling, "We waited, Miss Militia shot some tear gas into the store, we rushed out. We stuck around long enough to sell that we wanted to stay and steal some cheap diamonds, then we got the hell out of there."

"Which is when you got shot?"

"Which is when I got shot. She dropped down on some kind of grapple gun and got a clean shot at me."

What Lisa didn't mention was that if she hadn't been tangled in Bentley's riding straps at the time, then the shot would probably have knocked her right off of the transformed dog, which could well have placed her in custody. It was a sobering thought and exactly the kind of thing Taylor did not need to know about.

"So if everything went well, and you got the plans, why...?"

It was obvious what question she meant. Lisa settled her chair back on all four legs and met Taylor's gaze square on.

"Why were those two such dicks?"

Taylor coloured and shook her head a little, but she didn't disagree.

_'I wonder how much I should say.'_

"Well Brian's easy to explain. He's big on reputation, using it to open doors or win battles without having to fight, and this job came with a reputation hit. He agreed to it since it was the best option we had, but that doesn't mean he's happy with it."

"That's not it."

Lisa crooked an eyebrow, "I'm pretty sure it is. I get he's a bit too intense about it but it's really not directed at you."

"No, it's..." Taylor turned a frustrated look on Lisa, her hands twisted in the fabric of her hoodie, "He's been weird ever since I started staying with you guys, I mean he was nice at first but he got all weird after I asked if..."

Trailing off was something Lisa had come to expect from her new friend, she had a bag full of social issues to sort through after all. It had usually seemed better to hold off on using her power and let her reveal things in her own time...

Nevertheless cutting off right in the middle of a juicy phrase like that, well how was a girl supposed to help herself?

_asked something awkward, asked something frightening, asked a question she had never asked before, asked if she should go on jobs, asked if she could go on jobs, asked_

"Asked if what?" Rachel said impatiently.

"I'm telling you that's not it." Lisa interjected, eager for the conversation to move away from any direction that might put a freshly triggered girl with so little to lose in the middle of a cape fight. "It's nothing personal Taylor, it's just that all this," She gestured to the meal laid out before them, "-is kind of a sore point for some of us."

"You've probably heard about trigger events right? Somewhere on the net or something?"

"Um, only a bit. That it's how we get powers. And that they, well they-"

"They suck. You know it, I know it, we all know it. So you shouldn't be surprised if a cape has had a pretty rough time of it, unless they're second gen but that's a whole other thing and it's not always true anyway, point is that we've all had shitty lives."

"I still don't see what that has to do with anything."

"Well cooking like this was a nice thing to do Taylor, it's just that for those two...well it probably just reminded them of what they've never had."

The other girl froze at her words, but Lisa couldn't feel bad for saying them. It sucked but, well with what she knew of Alec - _'aka Jean-Paul'_ \- especially, Lisa hadn't been surprised by anyone's reactions except for Rachel's.

As if called by that thought, Rachel said, "That's stupid."

Standing up from her empty plate, a plate that Lisa was vaguely aware she had refilled several times, Rachel clicked her tongue at her dogs and picked up her plate before continuing, "Food's food, and this was good food. So thanks. It's not your fault those guys were idiots about it."

With that she picked up a couple more empty dishes, then walked over to the kitchen with her dogs trailing behind her and began washing up. Only then did Lisa really look around at what had been an impressive spread not long ago.

_'Holy shit she ate a lot while we were talking, where did she even put it all? How did she eat it so...fast...'_

The patch of gravy on Angelica's muzzle was enough of a clue that Inspector Clouseau could have figured out that particular mystery.

Blowing out a sigh, Lisa stood up and started gathering up some dishes of her own. She'd just joined Rachel at the sink when Taylor spoke from where she still sat at the table.

"Honestly...I wasn't just trying to be nice. I was, but I also just wanted something to do. It's just that being stuck in here is starting to drive me a bit stir crazy."

"So go outside." Rachel said in between scrubbing plates.

"What? I can't do that!" It was the loudest that she'd been in days. Enough that Lisa looked over to her with a little shock.

Lisa put down the dish towel she was using and gently replied, "Yeah you can, Rachel does it all the time and she's a fugitive too."

_'Did she think she was stuck inside forever?'_

"But, but what if someone recognises me?"

"You run." Rachel said. "And they never notice you anyway."

"A disguise would still be a good idea," Lisa inserted, "-but you've got plenty of options for that." Nodding towards the dogs at Rachel's feet brought the light of comprehension to Taylor's face. Followed closely by the first genuine smile that she'd seen on the girl since they met.

"That's great. So we can head out tomorrow some time?"

_'Uh, we?'_

"Yeah, tomorrow morning's good." Rachel confirmed, before turning to Lisa and bluntly asking, "You coming?"

* * *

 


	8. Vixen - 5

* * *

"So, where are you lot off to?"

Most of the time Alec's voice was something Lisa welcomed. He was, after all, the only other team member who had a sense of humour and didn't keep it locked up in a cage somewhere.

It was just that in that particular moment -pulling on her trainers so she could join Rachel and Taylor at the bottom of the loft stairs- Lisa had been under the impression she was alone in the living area. So when the couch spoke in her verbal sparring partners voice, she might have maybe possibly squealed. Just a little.

His laughter dispelled any hope that he hadn't heard, along with any chance Lisa was going to go easy on him. Her lingering bruises had made that jump hurt her body just as much as it had stung her pride.

"Why are you on the couch? It's like eight in the morning."

Alec took his time to reply, starting by rearing up in a luxurious stretch that brought his body above the back of the couch. An action with the side effect of giving her a horribly clear view of his scrawny chest. She threw a hand up to shield her eyes but it was too late, Lisa would forever more know what he looked like with his top off.

While she was busy wishing for eye bleach he deigned to respond, "Some of us are early risers, part of a proper work ethic and all that."

_cadence unusually steady, rote recitation, reciting words from memory, conditioned to recite_

As usual the glimpse into Alec's past made her feel uncomfortably forgiving of his quirks. If he wasn't such a lazy bastard, Lisa might have suspected he gave her power these titbits on purpose. Either way she had no plans to tell him what she knew, even if she wasn't sure how much he cared about his privacy.

_'Probably as much as he can care about anything.'_

"Earth to Lisa, anyone there, are you lost in awe of my brilliance?" Lisa returned her attention to Alec and found him blessedly clothed.

"More like disgust, and what work ethic? You got up early to play your new game."

He didn't blink at being called out, "True, but it's shit. Those developers are lucky they're on the west coast or I'd be proposing a new job for the team."

"As if you could afford to hire all of us. I've seen how you spend money Alec."

"Who says I'd be the one paying?" He got up off the couch and waved a vague hand at the television, "That series is pretty popular you know. There's hoards of angry fanboys and fangirls just flooding the net right now, I say we get them to pay us. Crowdfunded villainy."

Her expression remained doubtful, "Uhuh. You say that like you're not one of those fanboys."

"Whatever." He shrugged, "You didn't answer my question. And what's up with your clothes?"

Lisa grinned and looked herself over. She was wearing sweatpants and a hoodie over a tank top. Casual clothes for anyone jogging in cold weather and unremarkable because of it. However the addition of her costume's gloves and domino mask was anything but unremarkable, and the utility belt hidden under her hoodie was downright illegal.

"I'm going for a walk with two fugitives, can't let anyone catch a pic of innocent little Lisa in that kind of company."

"But the terrible Tats and reprehensible Regent would fit right in?"

"Yeah exactl-" Lisa's brain caught up with what he'd said, "You...want to come with us? On a walk?"

"Yeah yeah, I know, but I promise I'm not being body jacked. I'm just super bored right now."

Before Lisa could muster any kind of counter, he was up and rushing for his room. He called over his shoulder as he entered the corridor, "I'll be with you nerds in just a moment, don't leave without me."

She took a few deep breaths, then nodded her resignation and wandered over to the loft stairs, leaning out over the balcony to see Taylor and Rachel standing with the latter's trio of dogs. They were both ready to go, even if Taylor's loose shirt and pants looked far too thin for the weather and her bare feet seemed even less suitable.

"Oi." she called, waiting until they looked up to continue, "Alec wants to come along. That cool with you two?"

_'Well, your faces are definitely saying no.'_

"Um, I, that'd be, uh, nice?" Was Taylor's eventual reply, Rachel's grunt could have been agreement, disagreement or just impatience. Though given how she refused to just wear a disguise and make the whole walk a hundred percent easier, Lisa didn't care much about what Rachel thought.

_'Now I think about it, Taylor probably would have been fine with some make-up and a wig.'_

With a shrug and a wince, Lisa bent to finish tying her laces, after all it wasn't like she couldn't just recommend that approach for next time.

She was just about finished when Alec stumbled back into the living area. Now wearing a dress shirt and jeans, with a beanie covering his hair. He had a jacket slung over his shoulder and looked unfairly composed for how quickly he'd gotten dressed.

There was a pretty big failure in his dress sense though, "Hey Alec, you remember the part where we need to have our faces covered in some subtle fashion?"

He flipped her the bird and reached up to his beanie, pulling the edge down until it cleared his nose, leaving him with what looked like the top half of a balaclava covering his face.

"Oh great, so we can look like a bunch of car thieves. What part of subtle did you fail to understand?"

"Hello there, welcome to the Docks." He sing-songed back at her, "You must be new here if you think that car thieves are going to get a second glance."

...He had a point.

"I've got a scarf in my jacket pocket as well, but I doubt it'll be needed. Now are we going or what?"

Feeling like she had more reasons to be annoyed at him than she could actually think of, Lisa descended the stairs with Alec close behind her. Predictably his reaction to seeing Taylor's light dress was to point and exclaim, "Hey what about her? You're talking about the wrong clothes and she looks dressed for the middle of summer."

Taylor must have been starting to get some of her confidence back, because she sent a withering look at Alec -not that he was effected- before vanishing. Her clothes held the shape of her body for a moment then drifted down amidst Alec exclaiming and stumbling backwards. His reaction was mirrored by Rachel's dogs, the three of them only calming when she crouched down to...well it involved a lot of stroking and some shushing noises.

Then a tiny little _yip_ revealed what had happened, Taylor squirming out of her empty clothes in the form of the smallest, most adorable puppy that Lisa had ever seen, including on the internet. Though some might have said that it lost some cuteness points by darting over to Alec and nipping his ankle.

Lisa wouldn't have been one of them.

Suppressing a snigger and Alec's exaggerated hopping around, Lisa looking over to their other fugitive and found Rachel's expression had the same confusion as it always did when she looked at Taylor. Only this time Lisa could pick out a definite trace of envy.

Shaking her tiny body, Taylor abruptly expanded into a fearsome looking black wolf, the three real dogs rearing up in confusion. She was almost waist-high on all fours and Lisa could see a problem immediately.

"Uh, Taylor, I think that might be a bad disguise. It's a bit too likely to make small children run away screaming."

Her reply came as a pitiable little whine, then she huffed and flowed into a black Labrador instead, this time merely a normal kind of large instead of looking like she could be ridden into battle.

"So where are we going?"

While Lisa was considering if he was asking seriously or just to be annoying, Rachel answered, "There's a place over towards the Graveyard, near the beach."

"What kind of place?" The irritated look Rachel turned on her seemed unfair.

"A nice place."

Without elaborating further, Rachel gathered up the leads of her three dogs -Lisa elbowed Alec before he could get the obvious joke out- and lead the way out into the cold and the wet.

Unsurprisingly, the street was deserted. The only witnesses to their hideout's door were the rusty old shell of a car across the street and a fuck of a lot of seagulls. An ugly scene that was magnified by the clean snow of a few days ago having transformed into a thick grey slush, eager to seep into shoes and soak through socks.

Even with the cries of the gulls the early winter morning was quiet, still, in that forgotten way that Lisa had only ever found in places like the Docks. Though it was as much an illusion here as in any of the other places Lisa had squatted in, hell she had four friends who lived on the same block as the loft, not that any of them knew that.

Then a gust of wind brought the scent of salt and fish and despite herself she inhaled as much as she could and savoured it.

_'Good morning Brockton Bay.'_

Rachel set the pace, stomping off in her big old combat boots, heedless of the trials of those just wearing trainers. Meanwhile Taylor had Lisa suppressing a smile with the contrast she struck with the three genuine dogs. Where they gloried in the slush -snuffing at it and rolling in it and occasionally even licking it- she stepped as delicately as a ballerina in a minefield.

Reaching down to tap her on the flank, Lisa pretended not to see her flinch and smiled brightly as she said, "How about transforming yourself some thicker soles? Or pads, I guess."

By the time they reached the end of the street, Taylor had found a workable shape and was happily plodding along on feet that, in the brief moments they weren't buried in the snow, reminded Lisa of seeing a rhino at the zoo. Walking in between Rachel's dogs to obscure her lack of collar and leash, she definitely seemed to be enjoying the fresh air.

They carried on the way they'd been going until they were a little over a block from the loft, then they switched direction to face the way they actually wanted to go. Taylor didn't question it, but Lisa suspected she was confused by the ingrained attempt to obscure their hideout's location.

_'Ah well, I'll explain it later.'_

It was strange to be enjoying the outside so much, especially given how run-down everything around them was, yet Lisa found herself unaccountably cheerful as they strolled along. Sure there might be a junkie sleeping in her own filth three feet away, sure the sea winds were biting at her calves and numbing her hands, it just didn't matter compared to the sense of freedom that had come over her.

She knew it wouldn't last, but with her allies around her and a companionable silence between them, Lisa felt like she could take on Coil and win with ease. Even the pain blooming across her chest was easier to ignore.

_endorphin release due to exercise, endorphin release due to proximity to allies, endorphin_

_'Yeah, yeah, who cares about the why. I feel good and I'm gonna damn well savour it.'_

The feeling lightened her feet until she had taken the lead, a casual exertion of her power telling her what route Rachel had planned and letting her take the turns a few steps ahead of her.

She was the first to greet the few people they passed who didn't give them a wide birth, and the first to ignore those who did. When they came across a cluster of kids spray-painting what space was left on the walls, she saw their crude attempts before any of the others. She even got the first look at the ocean -gently lit by the early morning- when they turned onto Lower Bayview.

It was a petty thing to take pleasure in, but she wasn't going to let that stop her.

"We're about a block away." Rachel informed them, the slight note of irritation in her voice giving Lisa some perverse glee.

Spinning to face them all, Lisa asked, "So are you willing to tell us about thi-"

Her reaction to what she saw down the alley was nearly instant. Left hand to hood, tug down to hide mask, right hand sharply gesturing at the others to stop, to turn back, to get the fuck out of there.

After all, the sight of two capes arguing over a thoroughly broken man was not the kind of thing you responded to slowly.

Not even if the man was wearing red and green, and the capes were a pair of heroes. Panacea in her white and red robe, Glory Girl in a crop top and skinny jeans, the former holding a phone and the latter holding a paper bag that stirred a vague familiarity in the back of Lisa's mind.

 _'So Victoria Dallon is under the impression that she has the butt to pull off skinny jeans, clearly someone close to her is a lying liar who lies.'_ It was a thought with more than a hint of hysteria to it. Which struck Lisa as entirely justified given that both Dallon sisters had noticed she was there and were breaking off their argument to stare right at her.

They looked just as panicked as she felt.

_afraid of witnesses, afraid of being discovered_

Especially Glory Girl. She was practically vibrating with worry, her eyes wide and her jaw clenched. Foreign emotions washed over Lisa for a moment - _fear, fear, fear, run, run away, she's so strong, too strong, you'll never_ \- before pulling back, which seemed a lot like the effects of a cape with an emotion aura briefly losing control of it.

So the gang member -with what her power told her was an assortment of broken bones and internal bruising- must have been her handiwork.

_'Calling in your sister to clean up your mess, how glorious. I bet you're real eager to stand accountable for this. Way to live up to those press releases.'_

Ironic transgressions aside, Lisa painted a timid look on her face, though she angled her head to hide all but her jaw within her hood, and kept subtly gesturing at the others to move back down the street. Then she pitched her voice with just the right mix of deference and fear, "Uh, um, I didn't see anything. I'm just going to, to leave. Please, I just want to leave."

It was the wrong tactic. She knew before she'd even finished the line.

In the heroine's body language Lisa had seen the echo of a thousand petty thuggish tyrants, people eager for recognition of their power. Caught up in that, she'd forgotten something very important.

"It's okay, this man is a gang member. You don't have to be afraid ma'am."

Victoria Dallon didn't see herself as a thug. She was a superhero, so beating a man almost to death was just a mistake. If an innocent girl stumbled across her cleaning up after that mistake, then she couldn't let her leave without reassuring her of that. Otherwise that girl might think she was doing something wrong.

Which was why she was coming closer. Gliding slightly above the ground, Glory Girl was almost to the mouth of the alley. Where she'd be able to see the others.

_'uh, uh, fuck.'_

"Wait. Please don't come any closer!" It was probably too late to change tactics and play the adoring fan, so Lisa doubled down on the fear. Giving the other time to get far enough away that Alec's fucking mask wouldn't get them all thrown in jail.

"I swear you're completely safe, he can't hurt you."

 _'It's not him I'm scared of you moron!'_ "Oh, oh yeah, he's down, so I'm just gonna go."

Holy shit she was fast when she wanted to be! Lisa didn't even have a chance to flinch before her fellow blonde closed the gap and clapped a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait! Please, I promise that everything is fine. My sister is fixing him up good as new."

_hiding panic, afraid of being caught, afraid of disappointing others, afraid of being arrested, afraid of_

Okay. Maybe the white hat wasn't quite that oblivious. Meaning she was being held by someone with super strength and a working brain. So it wasn't going to be long before her hood was swept aside and the domino mask was revealed...Lisa really didn't want to end up like the thug on the ground.

_'I could surrender? Buy the others some ti-'_

"Oi! What are you doing to my friend?!"

_'Alec you-!'_

The hand on her shoulder was snatched away like she was on fire, Glory Girl even raised her palms as she backed away. A glance over her shoulder revealed the likely reason. Alec, having re-beanie-fied his mask and wrapped his scarf around his face instead, was pointing his phone at the two of them in the universal pose of 'I'm totally putting this on youtube later'.

_'-...'re not a complete idiot.'_

Now the sisters looked openly panicked. Video evidence was a damning thing and a hero couldn't just break some random guy's phone. _'Unfortunately for Bastion. Heheh.'_ Lisa held back the urge to gloat and instead opted to get onto the street as quickly as possible, heading straight for where her friends were standing. They just needed to get out of sight and everything would be fine.

"I swear this really isn't what it looks like!" Glory Girl blurted as she zoomed over to where the four of them were gathered. Still holding her shopping bag like nothing was wrong.

"Come on, just leave us alone already. My friend will delete that video, we just want to-"

"Shh!"

_'Did, did Glory Girl just fucking shush me!?'_

The hovering blonde's eyes had narrowed, her panic slowly being replaced by what looked horribly like realisation. Lisa didn't understand, she had kept her eyes in the shadow of her hood, Alec was just wearing a scarf, what could possibly have tipped her...

_'I'm a fucking idiot.'_

"Y-you're that girl with the giant dogs! Hellhound!"

"My name is Bitch!" Yelled Rachel, obliterating any chance of talking their way out.

The confident smile that stamped itself onto Glory Girl's face looked much more at home there than the panic had. She certainly sounded happier when she drawled, "I though villains didn't get that kind of name until they got to prison? Good job reading ahead."

One of those concrete pummelling fists was drawing back when Lisa cut through her building momentum. Nodding towards Alec and his phone she said, "Forgetting something Glory Hole?"

_'Oooh, that's a good one. I need to remember that.'_

"You're extorting me?" She sounded more offended than concerned.

"Blackmail actually, I'm surprised a lawyer's kid doesn't know the difference."

"Oh yeah?" Glory Girl turned the full weight of her attention onto Alec, "So what exactly is stopping me from just snapping your phone right along with your skinny little arms?"

It was Alec's turn to cut through her attitude, "The internet? You think I'm too lazy to set up cloud storage or something? 'Cause I promise I'm not."

_hitch in breathing, raised pulse rate, lying_

Judging by how she settled onto the ground in a defeated slump, Alexandria Junior didn't have the older model's Thinker powers. Lisa remained the only cute blonde lie detector on this particular street.

"See, now we really will delete the video jut as soon as we're out of here. That way none of us go to jail." Despite the urge to gloat having become almost overpowering, Lisa decided not to push her luck. It was definitely time to ru-

"No."

_'Oh crap.'_

Into the air she rose, eyes still downcast.

"Hey. What are you doing? You think he can't hit share before you hit him?"

"I'm not letting you get away."

Her head snapped up to reveal eyes that blazed with anger. The aura broke over them like a wave, setting Lisa shaking with fear. She fought it down and gave words one last try.

"Don't be stupid. You attack us and that video goes viral. It'll ruin your whole life."

"Better than letting you go." With those words she shot forward, fist first, and straight towards Lisa.

There was just enough time for her to hope that she wouldn't lose all of her teeth, then Glory Girl hit home with a massive impact-

_crakthmp_

-that utterly pulverised the concrete a few feet in front of Lisa.

Staring at her across the top of the prone superheroine, Alec's eyes were wide and his hand was stretched out in front of him. Gratitude rushed through her but there was something more important to say than thank you.

"Ruuun!"

* * *

 


	9. Vixen - 6

* * *

They scattered.

It wasn't selfishness. Well, it wasn't entirely selfishness. The sad fact of running from a flying brick -assuming you were running because fighting wasn't an option- was that if you didn't have a handy smokescreen like Brian could toss up, then your best option was to give them too many targets to chase and hope to confuse them.

The brief glance she'd gotten did reassure Lisa that Taylor was sticking with Rachel, but she'd been more concerned with picking the most likely door to be unlocked and hurling herself towards it.

Fortunately the neighbourhood they were in gave her plenty of options even without the time to pick a lock. One door in particular leapt out at her as especially worn and-

_door unmaintained, building unmaintained, building weathered, lock non-functional_

-her power confirmed the choice.

With her hood flapping freely behind her, Lisa sprinted for the goal. Looking back would only slow her down. She just had to hope that there wasn't an angry superhero bearing down on her defenceless back.

_kraaash_

"Do you have to repay the city for this kind of damage?" Shouted Alec from somewhere behind her.

...It was a character flaw, but Lisa never had been good at resisting her curiosity just to save herself.

It was just a quick peek over her shoulder, and she was mere feet from the door. Luckily she didn't get a face full of fist for her troubles. However Alec looked to be having much less luck with that.

Where everyone else had sprinted for cover, Alec was barely jogging, all the while looking backwards and making the occasional gesture to divert Glory Girl's flight into the nearest hard surface. He was either covering their escape, or just enjoying the humiliation he was heaping on the self-righteous cow. Or both.

It looked almost one-sided. Alec walking backwards at an unhurried pace, the superheroine -still holding that damn bag- continually failing to charge at him. Lisa knew the truth though, knew the limits on Alec's power for this kind of thing.

Already his free arm was limp and twitching slightly. He disguised it well with his lazy posture, but she saw through him.

At the very same moment, she saw something just as worrying. The forgotten Dallon sister was crouched at the mouth of the alley, no great distance from where she had treated the Bad Boy, and she was holding her phone.

Lisa could recite the response times for most of the city by heart. In the middle of the day, right out in the open like this? They weren't nearly long enough.

She could rush Panacea while Alec held off her sister. Stop her making the call, maybe even take her hostage while they neutralised the greater threat. It was risky but-

_kerkrash_

This time she saw the pieces too late.

Glory Girl skidding through the surface of the road towards one of the few cars that dared to park around here. Alec moving to the side, angling towards an open street door. The car coming between them...but it wasn't like the hero was going to throw a car at someone she didn't know to be a Brute, even she wouldn't go that far.

Except there was another option that he hadn't considered and which Glory Girl, grabbing a crumpled handful of the car's door, clearly had. She tore it off with a growl and began to move.

"Regent get down!" Lisa warned, too late.

Alexandria junior came around the side of the car fast, Alec raised the same lazy hand that he had every other time and then she threw the car door at him.

He still got her, but her meeting with the ground was accompanied by an awful crak as her ballistic frisbee spun right into his outstretched arm. Alec crumpled with a thin scream, curling around his -definitely broken- arm. Glory Girl rose into the air, triumph written on her face as she looked down on her fallen enemy.

Even as she reached beneath her hoodie and yanked her gun from its holster, Lisa was considering targeting Panacea instead. It was probably the smarter play. Distance reduced threat, but if she got off a good first shot then she could play the sharpshooter and try to hold her hostage that way.

She was still considering the better idea while she sighted on the most aggravating part of Glory Girl, braced for the noise and squeezed the trigger. Once. Twice. Thrice.

Panacea dove for cover and a neat little grouping of holes appeared in the side of the paper bag that Glory Girl was clinging to. It swung easily with the impacts, which combined with how she was keeping a hold of it to give Lisa a pretty good idea of what was inside. More importantly, the trio of gunshots had most definitely drawn Glory Girl's attention, though she didn't seem to have noticed the damage to her purchases yet.

She put on the half-sneer of every girl who ever thought her face was too pretty for a proper one. Instead of speaking she just looked down at Lisa with pitying eyes, like she was a considering a mouse that had drawn the attention of an eagle.

_'Bitch please, I was wearing that mask when you still thought boys were icky.'_

Lisa nodded to her freshly ventilated bag, "There aren't many reasons for a rich girl to be shopping this far from prying eyes, and there's only one shop around here that sells any kind of clothes."

The effect her words had on the other cape was beautiful. Her entire body froze and her face became the staging ground for a war between humiliation, fury and disbelief. Honestly Lisa wanted to steal her expression and keep it in her pocket and take it out when she needed a pick me up, or at least to take a picture of it.

_'Time to really piss her off.'_

"Tell me Glory Hole, is it Stanfield's birthday? Or are you just trying to get him to buy you some even bigger tits?"

Fury won the war for control of Glory Girl's face, she opened her mouth but Lisa interrupted her with an ineffective shot to the chest. Starting to back towards the door as she continued.

"I guess you won't mind the bullet holes either way."

Lisa grinned as the other girl finally realised what the ignored gunfire had hit, jerking the bag to eye level and checking inside it.

Judging by the way she dropped it, there was no salvaging the contents.

"Woops," Lisa said with mock innocence, "I was just trying to help. A little less fabric can only impro-"

"Arrgggghhhh!" Unimaginative, as battle cries went, but still terrifying even without the wave of induced terror that almost swept Lisa off her feet.

_'T-time to go.'_

Glory Girl charged.

Lisa spun on her heel and ran for the door, comforting herself that at least Alec had gotten off the street during her distraction. It was barely three steps before she slammed into the door, barely managing to marshal her shaking fingers and twist the handle in time to shoot through it instead of bouncing off.

Mould hung thick in the air, almost choking her on her first breath of it. An old office building. She was in an entrance corridor. Reception desk ahead. Doors to either side of her. Both slightly ajar. Cry of rage getting closer far too fast.

Kicking out at the door to her left, Lisa dove to the right. Even as she bodily knocked the door open she was grabbing the handle to keep it from hitting the wall. Then with the angry scream sounding just a few feet away she swung it back the other way, leaving it just slightly ajar. Absently she reached her free hand into a certain well-secured pouch on her belt and brushed her fingers over the contents. Over her only option if this didn't work.

Then the street door exploded from its frame in a bang that almost made her run despite herself. Not helped by the aura of fear and the sudden presence of an avenging angel out for blood and separated from her by a mere inch of cheap and rotted wood which would splinter if she even looked at it too hard.

_'No. No. That's her aura talking. Calm. Caaalm.'_

It was cliché, but the moments really did stretch into eternity as she huddled against the door. Hoping against hope that her plan would work.

Then the sound of more property damage announced that Glory Girl had taken the left door. She began to yell challenges as she went. Her shouts for Lisa to, "Come out and get what's coming to you!" moving further and further away, until finally Lisa felt comfortable slipping back through the door.

For the final step in her plan Lisa turned her back on the office building altogether, and stepped back out onto the street.

Jogging quietly across the street, she was just considering what a moron her opponent had turned out to be when her roaming gaze fell upon Amelia Dallon.

_'...I forgot you were still out here.'_

The healer shouted for her sister and Lisa found herself running for her life again.

At least she had a decent head start this time.

Another alley looked promising, three doors were visible and-

_slightly worn_

_purposefully damaged_

_extremely worn_

-Lisa went for the second, kicking it open and ducking inside. This time she was in a stairwell, one that went up and down from where she stood-

_apartment building, apartments on upper floors, access to fire escape, access to roof, -'What about down'- access to sewer, locked access to sewer, chained access to_

-She went up, making it to the third floor before a distant impact shook the floor beneath her.

_'No time to go for the roof.'_

Recalling where the next alleyway had been, Lisa dashed for a door. Simultaneously she pulled a couple of delicate metal rods from the side of her gloves. Ducking to the level of the lock, it yielded to her in mere seconds and she stayed low as she opened it, darted through, and closed it again all in the span of a breath.

It was the usual mess of filth and exposed walls, a few places missing floorboards as well. Ignoring all of it she went for the window on the West-most side of the apartment and yanked it open. Outside was a fire escape that she wasted no time clambering onto, and across the alleyway was its mirror image. The gap was just a few feet, no big deal-

_three storey drop, likely fatal, certain to incapacitate, likely due to multiple broken_

She vaulted the railing and leapt before she could think better of it.

There was a heart-stopping moment of weightlessness where the other side looked a thousand miles away, then she crashed into the metal rail and her poor bruised chest screamed at her. Adrenalin let her ignore it, let her haul herself up and over and break the window. A flick of the lock and she could open it and drop to the floor inside.

It was quiet inside this apartment, which probably meant she was safe. She didn't wait around to find out.

The door wasn't even locked and after a little exploring her power told her all about an access corridor that connected this place to three more apartment buildings. She tumbled down the stairs to the right floor, picked the padlock and didn't stop running until she was into the last building the cramped passage touched.

This one was almost classy. If you looked past the damage to everything. In fact it didn't seem so much like an apartment building, more of a-

_hotel_

-that.

Which meant that there was a whole bunch of keys just waiting for someone with super-intuition to find them stashed in a box beneath the floorboards behind the reception desk. Lisa glanced at the floorplan, grinned and grabbed the key labelled dining room. Then she flipped the box end over end, sending keys flying everywhere and rendering it almost impossible to figure out which one she'd taken.

It was on the second floor and in a moment of melancholy as she reached its threshold, Lisa realised that it might have been beautiful once.

Her imagination filled in the absent wallpaper and carpet with something tasteful, it repaired the broken windows and filled the empty space with a table much like the one they hatched their plans over. The result made her wish she could have seen the room before the Docks became what they had.

_'It would have been bright...probably tacky though, not like I'm imagining. Doilies and cat print wallpaper.'_

Shaking off the feeling, she found the door out of the dining room that she was looking for and let a smug smile cross her face.

The explosion of glass that sent her diving for cover in the doorway wiped it right off. Then she began to hear the sirens. And then she got a good look at what had broken the glass.

Glory Girl looked pissed.

Lisa drew her gun.

The hero snorted and took a very threatening step closer. So Lisa did the only thing she could think of and put the smug smile back on her face. Then she made it about a hundred and ten percent smugger, and pointed her gun at the windows.

Confidence did its job and the other girl paused in her advance.

"What the fuck are you smiling about scumbag?

"Oh nothing." _'I really hope this works.'_ "Just imagining the news tomorrow."

"Me too. How's 'Under-fuck beaten senseless' for a headline?"

"I was thinking something more like, 'Glory Girl Fails Fan.'"

"Oh, so you're a fan? That's pretty disgusting."

She was about to run out of patience and just attack, so Lisa nodded to the building across the street and launched her bluff. "I'm not your fan. The little girl squatting across the street on the other hand..."

While the confusion was still plain to see, Lisa buried her bluff in information.

"Her name is Sarah. She's been homeless for almost a year and she's had to do some bad things to get by, but she's still a good girl at heart. Of course she doesn't look up to heroes like she used to. Not after they didn't save her Mom from cancer, or stop her Dad from taking his grief out on her afterwards. Until she finally ran away and ended up cold and hungry and alone."

Confusion was turning to sadness, the other girl leant ever so slightly forward as the story took hold of her. Which was Lisa's cue to hit one of the biggest buttons her opponent had.

"All except for you of course."

Her ego.

"You were her favourite hero before, and the only one she still likes. She's even wearing one of your t-shirts right now. It's a bit dirty but then she is too. Can't wash in buildings without utilities."

"Bullshit, how could you know any of that?" Glory Girl rebelled against the lie, physically drawing back from it.

"How did I know about that lingerie you bought? How do I know-"

_white, red, gold, green, emerald green_

"-that your favourite colour is green. The same shade as your boyfriend's eyes. Kind of emeraldy."

_'Thank you gossip magazine covers. That's twice you've saved my life.'_

"I'm a good shot, Vicky. And I know just where to aim. How do you think-"

_wants to attack me, wants to injure me, needs sister to heal me, needs to call sister, can't call sister_

"-I hit your phone?"

Even with the hints from her power that one had been a gamble. Not enough time to be sure.

So when the other blonde sagged in place, Lisa barely kept from laughing in relief.

"I'm aiming right at her heart. By the time you get your sister to her it'll be too late."

Then before Glory Girl could think too much about her story, Lisa began to squeeze the trigger.

"No!"

_'Gotcha...not that I'm feeling great about it.'_

"No, please."

"Please what?"

"Please don't pull the trigger you fucking psycho fuck!"

"Oh what would the papers say if they heard you talking like that? Probably nicer things then they'll say if you don't fly back out that window in the next three seconds."

Glory Girl shot out the window without another word, heading straight for the building where Lisa's imaginary hostage was waiting to be saved. Which bought her maybe ten seconds, twenty tops.

Barely one had passed before she was halfway across the room and pulling open her most secure pouch. Bringing it to her mouth, she bit the little wire hoop and removed the pin with a jerk of her head. Now the time limit was a lot less than ten.

Dropping it behind her, she yanked open her targeted door and found a utility closet.

Without slowing down she hurled herself at the back wall. A prayer on her lips that she hadn't lead her power wrong. That she'd read the floorplan right.

Water damaged plaster crumbled around her and she suddenly had a long dark metal shaft yawning beneath her.

Grabbing for the ladder at the back of it, Lisa set her boots to the outer edges of it, then carefully loosened the grip of her hands. Her stomach rose as she accelerated into the darkness, quickly losing sight of even the ladder.

A flash of light changed that for an instant, then the shaft shook and roared and she almost lost her grip on the ladder. A few pings above her spoke of shrapnel that had made it inside, thankfully staying high above her.

Continuing her descent into the dark, Lisa grinned wide and proud. Recognising the age of the building; realising that it had been converted from something else; noticing the too thick section of wall that went right up the building. None of it had been her power.

Sure she'd used it to confirm, but it was still her own mind that had brought her into the old smuggling tunnels. It wasn't often that she got that kind of satisfaction.

_ambient noise increasing, nearing bottom of shaft_

_'Thank you power.'_ For once it wasn't a sarcastic thought. Lisa tightened her grip and slowed to a stop just a few rungs from the bottom. Then she pulled out a flashlight and set off down the narrow tunnel at a light jog.

With the state of that hotel, the grenade would definitely have collapsed the room. They wouldn't find her quickly...but with more heroes in the area it was still only a matter of time.

The downside of the tunnels was that Lisa had no idea how to even start finding the others. Of course she could just try to leave without them but that was more of a last resort than a starting point. No she needed to find a way back above ground, then figure out the most likely route for each of them to take.

Passing a side tunnel, Lisa glanced down it without bothering to turn her flashlight beam and promptly yelped in terror at the sight of two deep red eyes shining out of the darkness. Spinning clumsily she was still fumbling for her gun when the light illuminated a huge black...dog...

"Taylor!"

A happy bark confirmed her suspicions. Then another bark followed, then three quick barks and a sort of howl that she knew her power could interpret if necessary. For the sake of saving what use she had left of it, Lisa opted to flick off her flashlight and say, "I think I'll understand you better as a human."

One very strange sound later, Taylor's voice came from the darkness where the dog had stood, "A-are you alright?!"

"Woah, calm down." Lisa was caught off guard by the fervour in Taylor's voice, "I'm no worse than I was when I woke up."

The sigh of relief that Taylor replied with started a knot of worry forming in Lisa's gut.

"Why were you so worried?"

"We found Alec and his arm was really badly hurt. He said you lead that lunatic off to save him."

Lisa breathed her own internal sigh of relief. No new injuries.

"Alec said that? I'm not sure I believe that." She said wryly.

"Um, well he mostly swore a lot and tried not to look at his arm. But he said enough for me to put it together. I was scared that, that she might have hurt you like she did that guy." It wasn't just worry in her voice. There was anger in there as well. The same sudden fury that Lisa had seen when she almost destroyed the television a few nights ago.

"Well I'm feeling fine. She couldn't lay a finger on me."

"It was really brave of you." The anger had vanished again and Lisa fumbled for a reply to the honest admiration she heard.

_'What am I supposed to say to that?'_

She eventually settled for, "So you know where the others are then? Because I think meeting up is a good idea."

"Ah, yeah. My dad...he liked to tell me stories about these tunnels. I've even been down here once or twice in the areas closer to where he..."

Stepping forward and slinging an arm around her shoulders might have been a bit uncomfortable with only one of them being dressed, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

With a deep breath Taylor ducked away from her arm. Then there was that noise again and the _clik clik_ of her claws on the cement as she lead the way into the dark.

* * *

 


	10. Vixen - 7

* * *

It struck Lisa as inappropriate just how quickly they got back to the others. A complicated journey through a maze of dark underground tunnels should take more than a few minutes, otherwise it was hardly a journey at all. More of an excursion, or a trip.

So it was after a short trip through the dark that they reached their temporary hideout...

Lisa had to admit, it was more impressive than she had expected. Dimly lit by a few stubborn bulbs was what she could only describe as an underground warehouse. One that was both oddly warm and much larger than she would have expected from a space originally carved out by smugglers several centuries ago.

_signs of tools, signs of multiple tools, signs of multiple methods_

Or the original space had been much smaller and later smugglers had added to it.

That would explain the bizarre mix of packaging lying around the place. Everything from some scattered barrels that looked truly ancient, to stacks of rusted steel crates, to a heap of dusty plastic wrap off in one corner.

Sprawled atop a wooden pallet was a pitifully moaning lump that she recognised. However before she could call out to it, someone else spoke right into her ear.

"You found us."

Her heart leapt even higher than she did, but she did at least refrain from screaming. All the surprises lately were improving her reactions.

Whirling on the spot she started working herself up to yell at Rachel for giving her such a fright, only to deflate when she found the dog-loving girl blinking guilelessly back at her. Going by the dogs emerging from a dark alcove behind her, Lisa figured that she must have been standing guard. In there she'd have had a clear view of the entrance tunnel -the only way in or out that Lisa could see- and wouldn't have been easily spotted.

_'Can't really scream at her for being cautious.'_

"Hey Rachel, this place is great, how'd you find it?"

Instead of replying, Rachel grunted and nodded at where Taylor was shrinking and squirming underneath a surprisingly clean pile of cloth. Then the pile inflated and Lisa recognised it as one of her old dressing gowns. Now draped over a rapidly transforming Taylor.

After belting the robe tightly closed, she turned and smiled shyly at both other girls.

"I uh, lead Rachel here. We kinda found Alec along the way. After we split up she was looking for a place to wait for them to stop looking for us and like I told you, my dad liked to tell me about these tunnels. "

Somewhere in her recollection, Taylor had drifted into a memory, talking less to them and more just to hear herself remember. She wandered over to a particular crate that looked a lot less dusty than the others.

"He showed me this place just over two years ago, told me how it was one of the only ones that the cops never found...he loved that story."

Lisa couldn't help but let her power loose just a little, something about how Taylor brushed her hand across the crate.

_uneven dust pattern, regular pattern of disturbance, pattern fits place setting, pattern fits wine glasses, expensive meal_

There was no need for her power to fill in the rest, it was unlikely that Taylor and her Dad had had a meal with wine. The sinking feeling in her gut only made her more certain.

"Your parents, they had an anniversary here. Didn't they."

"...The last one before my mom...before she...and um, and a few other times over the years. They really liked this place."

"Taylor I am so so sorry. We can go find somewhere else-"

"What? No!" Taylor snapped out of her memories and whirled to face them, "No, I wasn't, I didn't mean it like that."

Taking a deep breath she gathered herself and met Lisa's gaze head on.

"Trust me, they'd have approved of us using it to hide from someone like that cow. It was just a nice memory is all."

Relaxing a little, Lisa let herself agree. It was a nice story. She could even see it in her mind's eye. The man who the news channels had been harassing all week -looking younger and happier than he had in those ambush interviews- sitting across the crate from a woman with Taylor's hair. A picnic laid out between them while they exchanged smiles and stories of the smugglers who had traded in the very place they were sitting.

Lisa had never really understood romance, or what was so appealing about it, and she'd certainly never gotten up the guts to share that fact with anyone. Imagining that scene still made her feel something. Loneliness, perhaps? Or maybe a longing for parents who sneaked into smugglers' dens instead of...

She shook that fantasy off with the familiarity of harsh practice. Their neglect was an old wound and her attention would only make it fester.

A certain pitiful lump seemed like a much better target for her attention. So she gave the girls a grin and sauntered over to Alec's pallet of misery.

Once she got closer the good humour died fast. He was ghost pale and shaking and clutching his scarf wrapped arm close to his chest. The covering did little to hide the four clear bends in it, only one of which could be his elbow. In place of the usual lazy grin, he was biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. When he say her his eyes focused on her with an intensity that was almost frightening, clearly desperate for distraction.

"Y-you look like shit Alec. Guess frisbee with Glory Girl is an extreme sport."

He snorted a laugh through clenched teeth, managing to unlock his jaw enough to reply, "Fuck you too you skinny bitch, see if I save your ass again."

_'There's no way that he took that hit and it only damaged his arm. I'm guessing ribs too, maybe something internal...it's incredible that he made it down here in this state.'_

Reaching carefully into one of her belt pouches, Lisa kept his attention away from it as best she could, "As I recall, it was me saving your scrawny ass." She had a good idea what he would say if he saw what was in it but she couldn't just leave him like this.

"What've you got there?" His voice was hard and his gaze had pierced her sleight-of-hand. There was no point lying about it any further so she pulled out the little auto-injector of morphine and waved it cheerily in the air.

"Something to help you with the pain."

"Don't be stupid, how the fuck am I going to get out of here high on that shit?"

"How are you going to get out of here if you can barely move Alec? Just take the morphine-"

"And get left behind. I know how this works Lisa. Keep that needle away from me."

She considered trying to reassure him, then abandoned the idea. Alec was hardly trusting at the best of times. With as much pain as he seemed to be in there wasn't much hope of convincing him they wouldn't leave him to save themselves.

"Maybe I can help?" Taylor spoke up at her side.

Alec shot an incredulous glare at her, "How the fuck are you going to help? Make me a pitbull with a broken leg instead?"

Taylor took several steps back from the force of his response, starting to shy away when Rachel stepped up behind her. Confidence had never been deficient in the heavy-set girl, and she must have lent some to Taylor by standing at her back because she squared her shoulders and strode right up to Alec's makeshift bed.

"I think I can heal you. Like I healed myself, um, well I guess you didn't see that, but I can heal myself and I can probably heal you too. Maybe." Despite trailing into insecurity somewhere along the way, Taylor had a hopeful expression when she finished. Looking to Alec for his verdict.

"Maybe? You can shove maybe up your ass." Alec burst her bubble.

"You got another idea?" Rachel growled.

There was no reply. Lisa might have thought he'd passed out if his eyes weren't still fixed on her hands. Not that he was in any state to stop her...

_'I really hope it doesn't come to that...still...'_

"He has a point Taylor." She found herself saying, "Do you know for sure that you can give people regeneration? I thought you'd only turned people into normal dogs."

"No but I could feel other forms inside them. All the same ones that are inside me."

"That's not the only consideration."

Rachel and Taylor both looked mystified, forcing Lisa to just come out and say it.

"Taylor, have you ever heard of Teacher?"

"...um, yeah, he's the guy who made someone- Hey! You think I'm trying to brainwash you guys?!" Anger was written across her entire body at the perceived accusation.

"No!" Lisa hurried to reassure her, "No, I know you're not like that. It's just that powers like yours...Well sometimes they have other effects. And neither of the people that you've transformed have been seen since."

"So what? You think that I might have fucked with their heads?"

"Accidentally. I'm not saying you meant to. Just that it's possible. Are you sure that it isn't?"

That question dispelled the rage and left her looking unsure.

"Use it on me then." Rachel chose that moment to remind them of her presence.

Lisa sputtered, "Wha- Rachel that's-"

"If it fucks with my head then you'll know. Right?"

"Of course."

"Then she can use it on me first, if it works she can heal Alec. That cool with you Taylor?"

"Rachel you can't just..." Lisa found her words deserting her at the look on Rachel's face. Rather than the anger Lisa had been expecting, she looked determined. Ready for the consequences.

"We need to fix him up if we want a shot at escaping." Rachel jabbed a thumb towards the 'him' in question, "You need to watch the test. Taylor can't test it on herself. That leaves me."

_'That's...surprisingly sound logic.'_

Left without a good reason to disagree, Lisa bit her lip as she ran through a few potential arguments in her head. They'd need to sneak past the white hats if they wanted to get away, which would be almost impossible with Alec in the state he was in. Finally she had to admit to herself that it was the best idea they had.

With a begrudging nod, Lisa looked around and said, "That area's clearest. We should do it over there." Then she lead the way over to a space near one wall, about the size of their loft's living room and at least twice as tall. That it had a convenient stack of crates for her to sit on was just happy coincidence.

By the time she'd hauled her tired body up to her intended perch, Rachel had removed her heavy coat and was standing in just a t-shirt and her skirt. She rubbed at her exposed arms, staring resolutely at Taylor as the younger girl paced rapidly back and forth in front of her. Right when Lisa was about to speak up, she found her courage and grabbed Rachel's elbow.

At first nothing happened, Taylor got a contemplative look on her face and Rachel went very very tense.

 _schlorp_  
  
Then Rachel had fur. Fine auburn hair sprouted from her skin wherever Lisa could see it and probably across the rest of her as well, though she was so intent on Taylor that she didn't notice at first. Lisa had to admit that the double take she directed at her hands was pretty funny. Even if the joke was ruined by the way she gasped and began frantically checking her body.

"What happened!? Did it go wrong?!" Rachel almost shrieked.

"No." Taylor had both hands out and was clearly trying to calm her down, "I just figured it was best to try one of my human-ish forms first. Keep from wrecking your clothes."

"But-! I thought you were just gonna make me into a dog!"

_'This is definitely out of character, but it doesn't seem like any kind of control'_

_unusually open reaction, unusual display of emotion, uninhibited display of emotion_

_'Wait...that could explain quite a lot.'_

Taylor had struggled to describe her rampage through the school and Lisa hadn't wanted to push her. It had seemed like a fairly standard trauma induced mental break and she'd left it at that...but what if it wasn't.

If Taylor's power came with heightened emotions then her rampage was easy to understand. Anger at her trigger plus a power that took the brakes off equalled berserk rage. All of her outbursts since coming to stay with them had followed the same pattern, always accompanied by transformation. Which might mean that was the limit of the mental effects.

Pulling her attention back to the warehouse, Lisa found Rachel was almost hyperventilating now.

_'Weird, I'd have expected more anger from her.'_

Instead she was clinging to Taylor's hand and looking up at her without a hint of blame. Which was concerning.

Decided she's learned enough, Lisa yelled "Rachel, it's fine!" Then flinched as, instead of showing any kind of relief, Rachel literally snarled at her. Anger turned to confusion just as quickly.

"It feels really weird Lisa, she didn't mean it but something's happened."

"You just need to calm down. It's not fucking with your head or anything-" _'I think.'_ "-it's just making you feel things stronger than normal. Once you get used to it it should be easy to control yourself." _'I hope.'_

Sure enough her breathing began to normalise, finally slowing to a normal pace. Moving with exaggerated caution Rachel brought a hand up to her face and examined her new fur. Peering especially closely at the tough little claws that Lisa hadn't noticed at first.

_calm, no imposed emotions, emotional effect only removes inhibition, emotional effect does not prevent rational thought, emotional effect does not alter thoughts_

Unsure how much she could trust her power on this one, Lisa dropped down from the crate stack and bought herself some time to think.

"Pretty cool. I like that colour on you Rachel." The girl in question didn't respond, either ignoring her or too absorbed to pay attention, Lisa redirected her conversation to Taylor, "Good job Taylor. It does seem like a pretty huge effort for just a little fur and some claws but once she's used to it we can try something bigger."

"Um," Taylor didn't flinch at the two stares suddenly fixed on her, but it seemed like a close thing, "It's not just fur. I gave her everything I could. That form's focused on regeneration but there's improved strength, toughness, and a bunch more stuff."

"...Oh."

_'That's...that could change...everything.'_

Desperately reigning in her rising hopes, Lisa reminded herself that it wouldn't be worth much if it fried her brain. Not to mention that Taylor might be wrong.

"Are you sure? Even if that's what you meant to give her, we still need to check that it worked."

Rachel shrugged and poked at her left arm with the fingers of her right hand. Realisation came a moment too late and she swept her claws along her own skin as Lisa was opening her mouth to tell her not to do it. Blood sprayed across the warehouse floor and Lisa rushed over to her while pulling out her medical supplies.

"What the hell were you thinking!? She gave you strength too, we could have just tested...that..." Her voice trailed off as she wiped away blood to find the wounds and found bare skin. No, there were a few red lines, already fading to pink, then turning the same shade as the rest of Rachel's forearm. It had taken maybe a few seconds to heal.

Feeling a little numb, Lisa returned the bandages to their usual place.

"It's kind of like balancing a budget, or making a character in one of those games with all the numbers. Since that form has really high regeneration it doesn't have much else, just a bunch of small boosts, but the healing is fast and should work for just about anything."

"Awesome, it works. You fucks want to heal me any time today?!" Alec reminded them of why they'd been testing things to start with.

Taylor looked askance to Lisa and she couldn't see a reason not to nod. It wasn't like the mental effects would even do anything to Alec with his fucked up emotions. So, leaving Rachel standing around looking a little stunned, Lisa trailed behind as Taylor ran over to his pallet and placed a gentle hand on his forehead. Her eye's widened and she turned a panicked look towards Lisa.

"He has a fever!" She hissed in the way of someone trying to whisper across an entire room.

"Yeah, he does, so maybe hurry up and fix me." Alec snapped.

Looking down at him, Taylor wrung her hands and said, "I'm not sure if I can fix a fever. Does regeneration work for stuff like that?"

"Why the hell are you asking me? Oi Lisa, does regeneration fix fevers."

Lisa cocked an eyebrow, "Does it really matter?"

"Guess not, but if I turn into a giant fever monster then you guys aren't allowed to kill me."

_'If it was anyone else I'd take that as a sign they were turning delirious.'_

With a firm nod to Taylor, Lisa settled back in a very relaxed and unworried posture. Meaning her hands were in her pockets and thus no one could see her crossing her fingers.

By now the sound of the transformation was becoming familiar, if no less disconcerting for that.

Like with Rachel, a layer of fur was the obvious sign that he had been transformed, though this time Lisa picked up on the smaller differences. Claws at each finger tip, a slight thickening of those limbs she could see, and even some subtle changes to his facial structure. Nothing too shocking really. It was almost anti-climatic.

His voice was a smidge deeper, "Is that it?"

Then his arm started writhing like it was caught in a hurricane. Alec's response surprised absolutely no one.

"Motherfuck piece of cunting shit! Fucking cock-sucking fuuuuck!" Was just the introduction to the veritable seminar on profanity that he began screaming.

However despite the obvious pain and some truly nauseating snapping sounds issuing from his arm, Lisa power kept her calm.

_healing delayed, delay due to pre-existing injury, delay irrelevant to healing efficacy, healing complete in two point six seconds, healing complete in_

So Lisa limited herself to a comforting hand on Taylor's shoulders and using that hand to pull her back from where Alec would be done healing right...about...

The writhing stopped. His mouth took a few moments to catch up, "-bollock-munching whore of a...hey...it doesn't hurt any more."

He sat up slowly and smoothly, pulling himself upright on core strength alone, stretching both arms out as he did so. There wasn't even a sign of which one was injured...except for some bloody tears in his sleeve that made Lisa incredibly glad she hadn't seen his injured arm without the scarf covering it. He flexed both arms, slowly at first then faster and rougher until he was throwing himself from side to side with each movement. Finally he hurled too much weight to one side and overbalanced right off the pallet, rolling to the floor in a jumble of limbs that had both girls rushing forward to help him up.

Only instead of the scowl Lisa was expecting to find on his face, he was wearing the biggest smile she'd ever seen. The kind of honest smile that Alec never wore, that she didn't think he was even capable of, and just to creep her out even more he arched his back and began laughing. Loudly and with a level of glee that would have been infectious if it wasn't so disturbing.

"Okay Alec..." The laughter didn't stop, "I think that's enough..." If anything he laughed harder, "You have a great pretend laugh, please stop."

"He's not pretending." Rachel said, sounding even more confused than Lisa felt.

"What? How would you know that?" Even as she said it, her focus was on Rachel as much as Alec. As confused as she had sounded, it hadn't come with any kind of uncertainty. Lisa knew the other girl wouldn't -couldn't- answer her question, but the answer came to her regardless.

Rachel was looking at Alec the same way she had occasionally looked at Taylor. Like she wasn't sure what she was looking at, and with something else beneath that uncertainty, something Lisa finally recognised.

_'Understanding.' understanding_

So somehow a girl who couldn't tell a smile from a snarl could suddenly read human body language...except that wasn't it at all. Lisa's power bridged the gap enough for it not to matter, but when she was transformed Taylor's body language shifted. It took on elements that had reminded Lisa of a dog, not a complete alteration, but maybe enough that someone with a supernatural understanding of such cues could read them.

Which left the mystery of Alec...and if Rachel was right and he was laughing genuinely, something which should have been impossible given what his father had done to him...

She looked at Alec, really looked at him, and let her power infer what it could without her assumptions holding it back.

_happy, relieved, happy, confused, emotionally numb, happy, emotional damage overridden by removal of emotional inhibition, happy, unable to understand emotional input, confused at emotional input, happy, happy_

"Huh." Alec's laughter was finally dying down and Lisa found herself leaning forward, deeply curious as to what he would do next.

Laughter became a grin that threatened to take his head off and he clambered to his feet.

"Holy fuck, how are you not tripping out over this? It feels amazing. Amazing!" He broke off into a fit of giggling and then practically skipped over to his abandoned pallet to grab his sceptre, muttering cheerfully about needing to grab a new phone from the loft. The way he began twirling it through his fingers had Lisa imagining the consequences of a fumble with the electrified end, but asking him to stop ran the risk that he'd start laughing again.

It was kind of creepy.

"So...I guess I'm up next." Lisa mumbled as she tugged off her gloves. Telling herself that Alec's reaction was due to his unique issues didn't make it any more appealing...but she couldn't ignore the list of benefits Taylor had recited. Especially with them trapped like this.

Some advantages were worth risks. Even the risk of mental alterations that might fuck up the only good thing about her.

Taylor came close enough to hug her, then reached up to cup her cheek. Lisa caught her hand an inch away from making contact.

"Um..." _'I don't know if I can do this.'_

"Lisa? Are you okay?"

She wasn't. Just thinking of something messing with her mind made her sick with horror. However the others had done it and if she didn't do the same then she'd only be making herself into a burden. So Lisa reached for her pride and let in give her the strength she needed.

"I'm fine, I was just wondering if you had anything sleeker available? I don't think a normal dog would look that great on me."

Her flimsy excuse for hesitating had more effect than she'd intended. Taylor pulled back her hand and scrunched her face in thought. After almost a minute of what Lisa assumed to be some kind of internal search, Taylor nodded and looked up at her with a smile that was downright mischievous.

"I do have more than just dogs, and I think I found one you'll like."

Lisa forced herself to return the smile and clasp Taylor's hand in both of her own.

Then she felt it. Like every cell in her body was stretching a kink out of its back and shrinking at the same time. By the time she became aware of the layer of warmth covering her body Taylor had already released her hand and stepped back.

There was a mirror in her belt, somehow despite her claws it was even easier to pull it out then normal. Apprehension flooded her as she brought it up to her face, then she turned it around and saw...a fox.

Overall her facial structure had barely changed. She didn't have an animal head or anything, but the fur and the slight shifts in her nose and her cheeks, it all screamed fox. The tail she realised was swaying gently behind her, that just confirmed it.

"I hope you like it, you've always kind of reminded me of a fox so..."

Lisa answered with a frantic sequence of nods. She loved it! She had a big bushy fox tail, and it was beautiful. She was beautiful. If only her mother could see her now then she'd have no choice but to admit it.

Thinking of her mother reminded her of all the horrible things that the woman used to tell her. Of being told to diet and to exercise and to eat more and eat less. She was sniffing and rubbing her eyes by the time her thoughts drifted back to when her mother had gone through her closet and thrown all her favourite clothes on the floor and told her that she was too old for frills and pastel colours and they would need to get her a whole new wardrobe but she had wanted to keep some of her favourites and her mom had...had...

Lisa held her cheek and tried not to sob, she knew that she had to fight it. That she could get control of herself like the others had but it was so hard and thinking of her mother just made her think of her father and then that made her think of Rex and then she really wanted to cry and-

Warmth. It scattered her memories and brought her back to the underground warehouse. To where she was crouching on the floor and someone had thrown thick strong arms around her. Someone that smelt of dogs and sweat and comfort.

Simply having those arms around her made her feel stronger. Strong enough to stand up to the memories. She was stronger than them. She was bigger than them. She was tougher than them. She was...actually getting bigger.

It hit her like a bucket of ice water with a complementary bolt of pain down her spine.

Rachel was hugging her and -only marginally more shocking- Rachel was using her power on her. Already she could feel her bones creaking and her muscles straining at her skin. She was standing up and several steps away from Rachel before another thought could cross her mind.

The other girl had gone from roughly the same height as her to nearly a foot shorter, but it was her eyes that drew Lisa's attention.

They were so kind. So gentle. Filled with understanding. With acceptance.

She hated them.

One long stride closed the distance. "Why the fuck did you use your power on me dumbass!" Lisa shouted right in her face.

Rachel didn't even flinch. Just reached out, as if she was going to give her a hug.

Lisa slapped her hands away. Probably hard enough to do some damage, not that she cared. In fact she wanted to hurt Rachel. Anything to break that mask and get at the anger that had to be beneath the gentle lie.

_not angry_

No one could look at her like that. No one could see what she was really like and...

_concerned_

-and...

_understands_

-and not hate her. Not look down on her. Not treat her like the selfish little fool that-

Arms closed around her again and Lisa almost, almost, let the tears out. Instead she took the deepest breath that she could, and got herself back under control.

Meditation wasn't something she'd ever been great at, but the slow rhythm of a half-remembered mantra helped her to slow her heart beat. By the time she'd done that her breathing was back to normal, which distracted her long enough for the turmoil in her heart to calm down.

This time she withdrew from Rachel's arms slowly. Careful even as she shrunk back down, Rachel withdrawing the boost that she had given -Lisa guessed- without even realising she was doing it.

Cautiously, Lisa reached for an emotional memory to test her control, only for it to feel...more, but not the overpowering assault of a few minutes ago. Emotions still came faster, more freely and stronger. Just not as much stronger.

_'Maybe it's only the first time there's a huge effect?'_

Looking around, Rachel supported that theory, but Alec was still vibrating with glee over in the corner. He was throwing himself into the pile of plastic wrap, then rolling away and doing it again, over and over and over...but then Alec was probably a special case.

Yeah, it made sense for the first time to be extra potent. Presumably that had been why Taylor rampaged at Winslow but had only had minor outbursts since. Well, something about that theory still didn't sit right with her but even she had to call it a day sometimes. She could figure out the rest later.

"So guys, who's up for getting out of here?"

Rachel looked at her approvingly, then bit her lip in an almost comical 'thinking face'. Lisa was just about to ask her what had occurred to her when she grit her teeth and looked very intently at her navel.

Then she grew a foot taller and sprouted a row of stubby little horns across her brow.

"Wait! No! That wasn't my plan at all!"

* * *

After she had gotten everyone calmed down and listening to her plan instead of jumping to conclusions about what it involved, getting out of the PRT perimeter had turned out to be hilariously easy.

Attacking head on had appealed to Lisa in a way it normally didn't. Which meant she was even less willing to do things that way than she normally was. They had had no idea how many heroes were waiting for them on the streets, nor what the PRT had brought in to aid them. For all they knew Alexandria herself might have dropped in for some tea and a quick beatdown. So, as tempting as it had been to see what happened if Rachel gave one of them a serious boost, they'd opted for a slightly sneakier approach.

Which meant turning into a pack of stray dogs.

It had involved a fair bit of embarrassment. Starting with the discussion over how to deal with clothing. Alec had advocated for just leaving it where it was, Rachel had argued that she liked her coat and Lisa had reminded them both that she had her gear with her and there was no way in hell she was leaving without it. They'd just started talking about tying their clothes to one another when Lisa remembered the roll of emergency loot bags she had tucked into one of her pouches. Though the other three had persisted in calling them gym bags despite her insistence.

Which had lead to the real embarrassing part, wherein they'd rigged layers of plastic packing wrap into a privacy curtain and taken turns to strip down, pack their clothes into one of the bags and reach a hand through for Taylor to grasp. Then there'd been about ten minutes of awkwardly stumbling around trying to get used to having four legs and no hands before finally they had been ready.

Rachel had had the easiest time of it. Not because she'd been especially good at walking on four legs, but because as soon as she'd been transformed her dogs had dashed over to her and stuck so close to her side that she hadn't been able to fall over.

Once they could walk straight, each of them took a bag in their mouth and Rachel barked at her dogs until they gave her some space. Then they'd all barked at Alec -which had felt strangely satisfying- until he stopped chasing his new tail and calmed down. Then they'd headed off into the tunnels.

Unlike on the way there, when she'd had only a flashlight and the sound of Taylor's claws to guide her, this time Lisa was able to see the tunnel they were walking through. Her vision hadn't lost any colour with the transformation, but her new night vision attested that her eyes had been changed in some way. Showing her concrete and pipes and an incredible quantity of cobwebs.

Being able to see the tunnel hadn't made the route any less confusing and Lisa had passed the time by wondering how long it had taken Taylor to memorise the directions to this little hideaway. Not that she was surprised. If her parents had shown her a secret underground lair then Lisa would probably have refused to leave it for a month, let alone memorising the way to get to it.

Honestly Lisa still really wanted an underground base. Unfortunately after a few dozen twists and turns she'd been forced to abandon any ideas of claiming this one for her own. The PRT agent stomping through the tunnels made sure of that.

They'd heard the boots long before they got close enough to peek at them through a grate set low in one wall. Their were two of them, well-armed and wearing helmets Lisa knew for a fact contained night vision tech, stomping down a parallel tunnel. Except they hadn't been stomping at all. When she got a look at them Lisa realised that it wasn't that their footsteps were loud, it was that her hearing was really really good.

Which had given her all sorts of ideas.

Avoiding arrest had struck her as more important, so she put them to the back of her mind and got back to following Taylor through the tunnels. Though even with the hostile boots echoing around them Lisa hadn't been worried, not after they ghosted past the first few.

They were almost to the end of the tunnels when they heard it, a low din of sirens and voices. It was coming from the direction of the exit.

The others had pulled back, a scent her power identified as fear creeping into the air. Lisa hadn't hesitated at all. Instead she'd woofed for their attention and once she had it, she lead the way back through the last few turns. There she found a vent covered by a rusted old grille, nothing unusual down here, and the scent of salt air.

With a very vulpine grin, she flicked her bushy tail towards the grille and waited for them to see it.

The very tip of her tail was fluttering ever so slightly in a breeze.

The metal gave way in a single swipe of Taylor's claws, then they were scrambling up it as fast as they could. A long climb in a cramped, dark tube before they abruptly piled into one another in a mess of legs and claws and screeching metal and light.

They tumbled out into the fresh air. Fragments of the metal grille falling together with them.

Sure it hurt when they hit the sidewalk, but Lisa was more concerned with the flood of fresh air all around them. She hadn't even noticed how stale the air was down in the tunnels until she got a wonderful fox-sized lungful of sweet sweet salty air. Most important of all, the distinctive sounds of a PRT perimeter were almost inaudible. They were free and clear.

The others were just as happy with their surroundings as she was, Alec was literally bouncing up and down.

Rachel loosed a happy woof, then when she had their attention, she dashed off down the street.

Lisa followed her just for the joy of it. Running had never appealed to her before, but something about four legs made all the difference. Maybe it was being so close to the ground. Feeling its texture with every step. Sometimes gross and slushy, sometimes firm and satisfying beneath her paws.

Streets passed in a blur, so maybe it was the speed that made it so much fun. Then again the scream as they rushed by a girl on the sidewalk was pretty satisfying too.

_'Wasn't that Dana? I'll need to apologise to her later.'_

In fact it was so much fun that Lisa didn't realise they weren't heading towards the loft until they were running along the dockside.

Before she could say -bark- anything, Rachel lead them inland again. Warehouses loomed on every side, one of them with a gaping hole in the front wall that Lisa was surprised they didn't head for. Instead Rachel lead them on until they reached a narrow alleyway strewn with the debris of several years of neglect.

While they picked their way towards what looked like a dead end, Lisa began to suspect that this might be where Rachel had intended to lead them when they first set out. Then Rachel set her weight against a dumpster and heaved it out of the way to reveal a ragged hole in the wall, vanishing through it with her dogs close behind her.

The three of them left behind traded glances, then followed her through into...well...it wasn't what Lisa was expecting.

What had she expected? Some kind of abandoned storage room, maybe an old office.

Definitely not a hidden garden.

If she had to guess, Lisa would say that it was a forgotten space. The kind of thing that always happened when too many people owned windowless buildings too close together. All of them looked at their walls and assumed that their property ended exactly where the walls did, that whatever was on the other side must be their neighbours'. So whatever was actually between those walls got left to fend for itself.

Of course that was usually a few square feet of dust and cobwebs, not a space at least the size of their loft and blanketed in greenery. Oh, and then there was the tree. A huge damn tree standing over them, its canopy reaching out to the walls on every side.

Stepping onto soft grass, Lisa attempted a fox laugh when she noticed that it even smelt nice in this place. The laugh worked surprisingly well, kind of a barking chuckle.

Rachel was lying against the trunk of the-

_oak_

-oak tree. She looked peaceful. Mostly because she was taking a nap.

Grinning a fox grin at the way Alec started dashing around the grass, exploring bushes and overgrown crates, Lisa decided to join her...friend.

Not long after she lay down for a nap of her own, Taylor joined them.

* * *

The breeze on her skin woke Lisa up.

Thankfully she got her hands over her mouth before her scream could wake everyone else.

Her clothes bag was close enough for her to reach it, then it was just a matter of getting dressed as quickly as humanly possible and keeping her gaze firmly on the canopy above them. Once she was done Lisa nudged Rachel with her foot until the butch girl stirred, then she threw the relevant bag at her and waited for her to get dressed.

Taylor was, unlike the rest of them, still transformed. Judging by the angle of the shadows it wasn't even noon, which was enough to get a rough guess of how long the transformations had lasted. Somewhere between one and two hours. Useful to know.

_'...okay, can't just pretend he's not here.'_

Since searching for Alec would risk the nightmarish scenario of seeing Alec naked, Lisa opted to yell, "Alec! Wake up and get some clothes on."

"Why?" Said a familiar voice that was far too close for comfort.

She very carefully did not turn around.

"Because if I see you without clothes on then I might just shoot you."

"Well then I'll just drape this here," There was a rustle of cloth over flesh, "And the dork can turn me back without anyone burning out their innocent little retinas."

"You want to transform again?" Lisa was beyond incredulous. How could he have forgotten what just happened. They run across town and gone to sleep in a secret garden. That was impressive even by drunken story standards.

"You want to try the mask plan again?"

She had to admit he had a point. Even so when they got Taylor awake, Lisa was very clear that she would once again be the last of them to transform. If she saw even a hint that things were about to degrade into another romp through the streets then she was pulling the plug.

As such it was a relief when all three transformations brought nothing close to what they had the first time. Rachel and Alec both kept their cool, and Lisa herself felt...well it was hard to describe the difference. She was certain the effect was still present. It just wasn't keeping her from thinking clearly any more.

Looking around confirmed it. Rachel was standing in the same vaguely threatening posture she always did, simply converted into a four limbed version. Meanwhile Alec was especially subdued. Lisa wondered if that meant the disinhibition had only worked on him the first time, or he just didn't feel as happy this time around.

At least Rachel didn't glare at her when she took the lead. So one good thing had come of this whole disaster. Possibly.

They moved cautiously this time. No mad dashes through the streets. Wherever possible they stayed in the shadows. Where they had to come out in the open it was never for longer than absolutely necessary. Always from cover to cover.

This way it took them the best part of an hour to get back to the loft, by which time it was past noon and Lisa was wishing she'd just rolled over and gone back to sleep that morning. She could barely believe that they still had so much of the day left to go.

They nudged the street door open and scurried inside before pushing it shut again. Lisa huffed a sigh out of her long furry nose and wandered if she could get away with calling it a night mid-afternoon. When the others clambered rapidly up the loft stairs, she opted to drag herself upwards one step at a time. Until finally she could toss her bag into the loft with a flick of her head and heave herself up that last step to find the one thing she had forgotten staring down at her.

Brian was holding a cup of tea in one hand and his phone in the other. If she'd looked at either object she'd have noticed immediately that his hands were white-knuckled and shaking slightly, but his face demanded all of her focus.

In much the same way that a ticking bomb tended to.

"So, since I'm guessing you're Lisa, would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?"

_'I probably should have left him a note.'_

* * *

 


	11. first letter

* * *

_Dear Taylor,_

_I'm not sure how to begin. You'd know, but then your mom was a professor with this stuff. Me, I've never been very good at it. Mr Baird is always getting on my case for how I do on his essays..._

_I guess the best place to start is this. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. Even if you were going to stab me, it was probably my fault you were driven so far._

_There. I said it. Wrote it. Same thing._

_You wouldn't believe what a relief it is to tell someone the truth. It feels like my whole life has become a lie, a lie so big that I don't even know if I could stop it any more. Not that I'm going to...that looks worse on paper than it sounded in my head. Let me start from the beginning, okay Taylor?_

_Sophia saved my life. More than that actually, she saved me from something worse than dying. An it made me realise how weak I was. What a stupid little girl I was being, and then you came up the road and it was like I was staring at everything I hated about myself and I hated you for it._

_Ever since then I've been trying to grow up. To be strong. I know that this would just make you hate me more, I understand that, but I have to tell you so you get why I, I've gotten all tangled up. Let me start over._

_I thought hurting you made me strong. It made me feel stronger._

_Then you did...what you did to me and...please don't think that I blame you for it, I don't. Just...it was really horrible Taylor. It was like those stories you here hear about bad trips. I was shrinking and I didn't know what was happening and that made me scared and it was like as soon as I got scared the fear just exploded and it was horrible. My heart was pounding so fast I thought it would explode and I couldn't calm down and they'd tied me down so I couldn't hurt myself and it just went on and on and on._

_Turns out that I was only a little dog for about an hour and a half. It felt like forever._

_After that I know...I'm not strong, not strong at all. They told me that you did the same to one of their agents and she freaked out too, but I bet they didn't have to tie her down. I bet she didn't have nightmares about it. So I know that I'm weak...and that means it was all for nothing._

_There was no point in hurting you Taylor. I'm no better off now then I was when we were still friends. I shouldn't have done it._

_I've been thinking about what to do. Thinking a lot. I tried calling your dad, I don't even know what I was going to say to him, but as soon as he heard my voice he told me I was a liar and hung up. You remember how he used to give us both piggybacks round your garden? He'd finish by running inside and throwing us onto the couch and we'd both be giggling so hard that, fuck. I'm crying now. It's ruining the paper, my make-up too. I'm gonna grab a tissue real quick._

_I'm back. Stupid thing is that I knew I couldn't tell him the truth anyway. That's the thing Taylor. I know that you need me to tell the truth, I get that. If I did then you'd still be in trouble but maybe you could work it off like Sophia is...but you see, if I tell the truth then everyone who lied is going to get in trouble. A hell of a lot of trouble._

_It's not me I'm doing this for. I know you don't have any reason to, but please please believe me. It's not any of those dumbasses I hang out with at school either._

_Sophia's the one I have to protect._

_I swear I can almost hear you yelling at me for it. I know you won't understand but Taylor, you don't know Sophia like I do. Maybe to you she's just the bitch who made me hurt you, but that's not the Sophia I know. The Sophia I know is a hero._

_She saved me, she even tried to help me with my fucked up head afterwards. Then she became my friend. My best friend._

_You know that she always forgets to eat in the morning? That she can go on for hours about this dumb kiddy cartoon that she pretends she doesn't like? That she likes to call me up after a shitty day with the other Wards and bitch about how they treat her until she feels better? That she needs me to read over her homework 'cause she's always forgetting words and losing track of where she was in a sentence and..._

_She's my friend Taylor. I already stabbed one friend in the back, and I don't think that I'm going to become a better person by doing it again._

_So anyway, that's why I'm lying to everyone. It's not as hard as it could have been, I mean you really made it look bad at school. I think you tore apart most of the third floor. The heroes, Assault is a total hottie by the way, assumed from the start that you were some psycho. All I had to do was make sure no one said otherwise and that was that. Well I blamed a few things on the Empire kids as well. That's probably a good deed though, those fucks deserve whatever they get._

_The rumour mill took it from there. Like I said before, I don't think I could change the story even if I wanted to. It's not like anyone was willing to speak up for you before you tore through the school, now I think Sophia's the only one who isn't terrified of you._

_Am I scared of you? I don't know. It sounds stupid but I really don't. I get that you might attack me, that's why I had Velocity hanging around my house for a week, and why I still have this little camera thingy up on my roof. I'm just not sure if the idea of you attacking scares me. It might make me feel better if you hit me some more._

_That was a nice punch though. You gave me a hell of a bruise._

_I don't think there's much left to say. I guess I hope that you're doing well. I know it's cold outside right now, but you have fur right? You should be warm enough. You're smart enough to find food._

_Maybe you've left town. Run off to Boston, or somewhere much further away. Wherever you are Taylor, I want you to know that I'm going to try and be a better person._

_Sophia is where I'm going to start. She's enjoying being a Ward a lot more now that the others can see how awesome she is. When school starts back up I'm going to try and use that, make her act like a hero at school as well. No more picking on anyone._

_And I've been looking online for charity stuff. Volunteering, you know, soup kitchens, shelters, dog pounds, that kind of thing. I even found a charity calendar that I'm gonna try and pose for. If I can't help you then I can at least help other people._

_I promise that I'm going to help other people Taylor._

_So...I guess that's all I wanted to say. I'm sorry for what I did. I'm sorry for choosing Sophia over you. I'm sorry I couldn't be the friend you deserved._

_I know that you're strong enough to get through this anyway. You'll find a way to survive. You'll do something great, I just know it._

_Sincerely,_

_Emma_

* * *

Straightening in her desk chair, Emma Barnes shook out her writing hand and bit back a sigh.

Letters made you feel better, even if you didn't send them. That's what the PRT's trauma councillor had said. 'Write a letter to Taylor, telling her how you feel about her attacking you.'

It had sounded dumb, but now that she'd written out her thoughts Emma could see the idea behind it.

Everything was on the page now. Put in its place. Trapped in ink and paper. She could think past it a little easier now. Think of her next step.

Even if it didn't do anything about the guilty pit in her stomach, it had helped her be sure that she was doing the right thing. Or maybe just the least bad thing. Either way there was one more thing left to do.

Her letter was just a few sheets of large handwriting. When she picked it up it felt like lead.

In her bedside table there was a lighter from when she'd briefly toyed with smoking. The only thing she kept when she threw out the cigarettes and the weed. Now she brought it and the letter with her as she left her room.

There was no one else home. Her sister had come home for a few awkward days, but she was back to college now. Her mom and dad were both out for the day. Whatever the PRT were using to keep watch on her house, it didn't involve anything inside the house. Her dad had been very clear about that. So she was alone.

No one to ask why she was going to the bathroom with paper and a lighter. No one to see her rip up her letter and pile it carefully in the sink. No one to see her close the door and pop the battery out of the smoke alarm.

She lit the paper and stood alone, watching it burn. It made her think of a funeral pyre. The last rites of her old friendship. The last bridge being burned.

_'I could still put it out. Take it to the heroes. Throw Sophia under the bus. Maybe, I could save Taylor...'_

Once the letter was ash, she turned on the water and washed it down the drain.

* * *

 


	12. Bitch - 1

* * *

Rachel was tense.

She was always tense just before a job. The stench lingering in the air was not helping.

They were sitting on a gravel-covered roof across the street from their target, a huge old factory sitting on the edge of the Trainyard. A sprawling mess of buildings bracketed by two fenced-in stretches of empty ground. Rachel didn't know what exactly the place had made before it was abandoned, but whatever it was had given the place a reek that hadn't faded with time. She'd been in slums that hadn't smelt as bad.

Brutus and Judas were dealing with it well enough, but the way Angelica kept snuffing at the air was worrying her. Lisa had said there was nothing toxic but she might just be allergic to something.

Not much point bringing it up to the others though. None of them would care.

Except for the fourth dog on the rooftop. Taylor was looking at Angelica with a worried lean to her head. Then again the others weren't likely to listen to Taylor either.

Rachel decided that she'd just have to keep a close eye on Angelica, so with a final belly rub she started looking around at her...friends? She'd never really had human friends before. Not when she was young. Not when she was alone. Even once she'd joined the team they'd never been more than convenient allies. She'd never understood them, never really trusted them.

Taylor's power had changed everything.

Seeing her had been...it had been like looking at a dog, sometimes. Sometimes she was just as weird as everyone else. Then she'd suddenly start making sense. Rachel found herself looking at another human and understanding them for the first time she could remember. Then she'd heard what Taylor's power could really do.

It was an old dream. She was somewhere warm, somewhere safe. Someone was holding her and a gentle voice was whispering to her about love and family and then she turned to face it and it was beautiful. A huge beautiful wolf, overflowing with love for her, and as soon as she saw it she knew that she was a wolf too. She was what she was meant to be. Then she woke up.

Reality hadn't been like the dream. It had been better.

It wasn't some mysterious wolf running beside her when she'd been transformed, it was her friends, because they really were her friends. Looking at them she had just known. Lisa and Alec and Taylor had all made sense, she could see Alec's unrestrained happiness, Lisa's nagging worry, Taylor's cautious hope. She could see the bonds between them all.

Then it was over. She woke from the dream and everything was back to the same confusing impossible masks.

Only now she knew what was beneath those masks.

Alec was lounging against the roof access door. He seemed as lazy as ever, but Rachel knew that there was passion and friendliness hidden inside him.

Lisa was looking at their blueprints again, wearing the same infuriating 'smile' she always did. The one that screamed aggression and mockery. Rachel forced down her usual reaction with the memory of the desperate loneliness that she had seen. The hatred that the blonde girl aimed squarely at herself.

Brian was lying at the edge of the roof, watching the factory though heavy binoculars. He... She didn't know what was inside him. After Lisa explained things and he stopped shouting at them, he had told Lisa to lock in his room once Taylor transformed him into a little dog. Watching from the couch, she'd gotten a glimpse of fury and exhaustion before he was tossed into his room. By the time he came out he'd been back to the familiar human face that told her nothing at all.

Then there was Taylor. Curled up in the middle of the roof she occasionally lifted her head and shot a glance over at Brian, otherwise she remained huddled in on herself. Scared, unsure, impatient. She looked like she wanted to prove herself.

It made her feel a little guilty, but even though Taylor was obviously unhappy Rachel was grateful to have someone there that she could understand. The others were strangely opposed to using Taylor's power so she didn't know when she'd next have a chance to...well she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Talk to them? Go for another run?

She could see what Brian meant though. This wasn't going to be an easy one, they couldn't afford mistakes. Taylor's power was awesome, but it might make them do something stupid. She just thought that their leader could have said all that without making Taylor look so dejected.

"I see them." Brian whispered, everyone else on the roof coming awake at those words.

He raised one of his hands in a fist behind his back, then started signalling. Once, then again, his hand opened fully, then a third time with all but one finger extended. Fourteen soldiers escorting the delivery. Confirmation that this was the right place and that there was nothing here they couldn't handle.

Rachel fought the urge to jump down with her dogs and start smashing the bunch of weaklings out of the way. It would be so much faster to go through the front and fourteen Empire footsoldiers was nothing...but the plan was the plan, and she wasn't going to piss everyone off by breaking from it.

Brian signalled that the delivery was inside and the team picked themselves up off the roof. It was time to get started.

As they gathered their gear, Rachel couldn't help but groan internally. She hated the sneaky jobs. If they weren't hoping to haul off as much of the Empire's stash as possible then the plan wouldn't even call for her to use her power. Just keep her dogs quiet and follow the others.

They climbed down the fire escape then headed directly away from the factory. Instead of just crossing the street they had to circle around while keeping a building between them and the factory for as long as possible. Eventually they crept down an alley and came right up to the fence bordering the factory grounds.

On the other side was about two dozen yards of cracked asphalt, still bearing the faintest traces of painted lines. The fence itself was no obstacle, it was so tattered that they didn't even have to cut a hole in it, but the open ground was a problem. Rachel couldn't see any lights in the factory windows but there was certain to be look-outs posted. Watching the weathered parking lot for anyone trying to sneak up on them. Though it was only dimly lit by distant streetlights, they'd still be spotted.

Which was where Brian became Grue. He rolled his shoulders and darkness began seeping out of him, forming a thick cloud around him, obscuring the lines of his body and making him look even bigger than he did without it. Then his hands snapped out in a flurry of jabs and streetlights began winking out all around their chosen approach. Thick patches of darkness blotted out the lights and plunged their path into true night.

Pulling her handful of leashes taut, Rachel ducked through a hole in the fence and became Bitch. Bitch was strong. Bitch was tough. Bitch didn't take shit from anyone and she would fuck up anyone who tried to give it to her. If anything went wrong then it would be down to Bitch to clear them a path out of it.

With a click of her tongue she had her dogs running alongside her, following the vague form of Regent in front of her. She remembered that he would be following Tattletale, while Grue brought up the rear. Runt was up front with Tattletale, adding her eyes to their Thinker's power.

Concrete loomed in front of her and Regent's outline vanished in the shadow of the wall. Bitch didn't slow until she was just a few steps away, slamming to a halt in the midst of her team. Grue joined them a few heartbeats later.

They navigated by touch, pressing themselves closely against the wall. It was a complicated command to give her dogs, but she didn't spend so much time training them for nothing. When Grue let the lights come back on they were all safely out of sight unless someone poked their head out a window and looked straight down.

Rough voices drifted down to them, "The lights are back on!"

"Keep it down," Hissed someone else, "it was just another brown out. The grid's shit around here."

A third voice ended the discussion, "They've been going on since yesterday, now shut the fuck up before I cave your fucking face in."

Bitch grinned savagely. Those idiots had fallen for it. Tattletale and Regent had spent most of the previous day wandering around this area, fucking with any junction boxes they could find until they killed the power. All to set up their entrance.

They edged around to a door that had been boarded and chained until it looked more secure than the wall did. Regent went to work on the lock while Bitch helped Grue lever off the boards as quietly as they could. She relished the work, mostly since it would be the last thing she got to do until they reached the stash deep within this place.

Finally they got enough crap off the door for it to drift open, revealing a cramped corridor stretching off into the building. The others went straight in but Bitch hung back to take one last breath of the foul air outside. Then she stepped inside and swung the doors closed behind her, surprised to find that the inside smelt better. Much better. Maybe the Nazis cleaned up?

"Psst!" Tattletale called for her attention.

Turning to face her teammates with a low huff, Rachel resigned herself to following them through the maze of abandoned industry.

At least things would get more interesting once they reached the stash.

Bitch really really hoped things would get more interesting once they reached the stash.

* * *

 


	13. Bitch - 2

* * *

Every fucking door in the building was locked. Every lock meant Regent had to pick it. Regent having to pick it meant spreading out to keep watch. Not attacking, not defending, not even hiding; Just standing out in the open and waiting for the skinhead brigade to find them.

All with the stupid _clink clink clink_ of those damn lockpicks ringing in her ears.

Bitch blew a few errant hairs out of her face and continued glaring down her assigned dusty dimly-lit corridor. One of her hands kept a tight grip on her dogs' leashes, but the other was free to clench and unclench as she wished for something to fucking happen. Something to break the tension. Anything to break the tension.

"Where are they?" Bitch muttered.

Tattletale answered under her breath from where she was staring down another hallway, "Probably all out towards the walls. They'll be worried about an attack from the outside, not people sneaking around inside."

Experience had taught Bitch not to question Tattletale. Even if she was wrong, she'd never admit it. Then again, that had been before...

For the first time Bitch stopped to wonder if there was a reason Tattletale acted like she did.

Memories of Lisa shaking and clinging to her dragged Bitch into uncomfortable thoughts. Had she been wrong before? Lisa so clearly needed help, had it been her fault for not reaching out-?

Brutus tugged on his leash and Bitch snapped back to alertness, quick to sooth him with a gentle pat. She pinched the meat of her thigh sharply and reached for the familiar knot of anger in her chest. This was not the place for soft feelings. An enemy could find them any second, she had to be ready.

Bitch glanced down at her dogs and bit her lip in thought. Once she powered them up, her dogs would make a lot more noise. Then again, without her power they'd be helpless at the beginning of any fight. Grue had said to wait as long as she could, but how was she meant to know when that was?

Regent's humming declared the door to be open, then a tap on her shoulder told Bitch she could follow the others through it. She kept her eyes on the hallway right up until she was through and the heavy metal swung shut behind her.

The other side was different. Instead of the bland offices they'd been walking through, they were surrounded by riveted factory walls. That nasty smell was back, and even with the layer of dust Bitch could see deep grooves in the floor.

"This was one of the routes from the factory floor to where they loaded the trucks." Tattletale whispered, "We follow this to the right and it'll take us exactly where we want to go."

Their target was in the factory. Tattletale and Grue had poured over the blueprints for hours and decided that was the most likely place for the Empire to keep their stash. There was some kind of storage basement thing, right in the middle of the factory floor, easy to defend and easy to escape from. Tattletale had followed up with her power and she was certain that was their target.

Which was what bothered Bitch so much as they crept closer to their goal. She didn't understand everything, but the Empire's main stash was a big deal. Most of their dirty money would be there, a ton of drugs too, probably weapons...

It wasn't going to cripple them if they lost it, but it would hurt them. Those Empire shits weren't stupid either. They covered their asses so well that she hadn't been able to find one of their fucking dogfighting rings in almost half a year of searching. They didn't even care that much about those; Everyone knew it was really just Hookwolf's hobby, the twisted evil piece of shit.

So finding one of the Empire's real secrets felt too easy. Tattletale wouldn't even tell them who the boss was and now they were trusting that he'd been able to get this kind of info? It didn't feel right, but the team wasn't going to take her instincts over Tattletale's words.

A shift in the air got her attention. Bitch wrinkled her nose as the stench went from bad to worse. She was about to call for the others' attention when Grue beat her to it, pointing to a corner ahead of them as he gave the signal to stop.

It took Bitch a second to realise, the dim light they were standing in brightened near that corner.

Tattletale said, "They'll have turned on all the lights out on the factory floor. That's our target up ahead."

"You guys know the plan." Said Grue, "We hit them hard and fast. There'll be a cargo lift in the middle of the room, do not let anyone get it moving."

Nuzzling at her leg had Bitch reflexively reaching down to one of her dogs, except all her dogs were standing in front of her. Looking down she found the other canine on their team radiating a blend of anxiety and determination. The dark-haired wolf jerked her head towards their leader and Bitch understood.

"Grue." She waited for him to look at her before continuing, careful not to challenge him; "Runt wants to scout ahead."

Runt drew back a few steps when he looked at her, but only a few steps. She stood her ground and returned his stare until he nodded. Slowly.

"Fine, but you'd better be careful. Don't get caught and don't do anything dumb. Got it?"

Bitch ground her teeth while Runt nodded eagerly. Their newest member crept down the corridor and around the corner while her body shrunk and shifted colours to almost match the floor. Bitch looked on, torn between anger at Grue calling her friend dumb and concern for the inexperienced girl.

Then there was even more waiting.

It didn't take long for her patience to run out, leaving her restless and eager for a distraction. A scuffing sound drew her attention to Regent and Bitch kept her gaze on him.

He didn't look any different than any other job. His costume was the same, and beneath it he slounched on his feet the same as ever. His mask was the same blank face and if he took it off she knew he'd have the same mask beneath it. She knew.

...only that wasn't what he really was. She knew that too. So she kept looking at him, and saw...nothing, just a mess of feelings and signals that made no sense and it made her madder and madder every time she looked. Knowing the truth just made it harder than ever to stare at him and still not understand.

Years of trying, and she could never understand anyone.

Crouching to the level of her dogs, Rachel pulled them closer, drawing on them for reassurance; The only ones she'd never been confused by, and who'd never been confused by her.

Until a few days ago anyway. Until she'd followed a trail of blood expecting another dying bum and found...a friend.

A friend who was taking way too long to finish scouting. It couldn't be that big a job. What if something had happened to her while she was just a little dog? Had she even made herself tough enough to survive being attacked?!

Images leapt to her mind, dogs she'd found in her search for Hookwolf's fighting pits. Dumped in empty warehouses and abandoned squats. Torn into bloody chunks and left in the makeshift rings that they'd died in, trash scattered over them like, like they didn't matter.

_'That's what they do to dogs. She's alone with them!'_

Bitch let her power flow off her, feeling the dogs around her and pushing it towards them. She stepped forward as they began to stretch and swell, then Grue was in front of her and grabbing her coat. She tried to step back but he already had a grip and she couldn't break it, forcing her to stay where she was while he stared down at her through his mask.

He was shaking slightly, his grip tight but he didn't touch anything but her coat. She had no idea what that meant. Was he angry? She felt like he was angry, but then she was almost always wrong when she went by feeling. Worried? No, he'd been mean to Taylor, he couldn't be worried about her. It had to be anger, but if Taylor was in real trouble...

_'He won't forget if I betray him here.'_

But...if she let Taylor get hurt, would that be a bigger betrayal? All she had to do was whistle and he'd have to let go and defend himself. Then she could run to help-

A low _yip_ had both of them looking down at the rust coloured puppy that was already growing back into a dark wolf at their feet. Grue stepped back but Bitch was too relieved to care. They hadn't hurt her friend. It was okay.

Tattletale laughed beneath her breath and bared her teeth, "So what'd you find Lassy? Is Timmy down the well?" Then they all watched closely as Taylor glanced around and began drawing in the dust with a paw that looked thinner and more pointed with every breath. A circle, then a much larger rectangle around it and a slightly bigger rectangle around that. A couple blobby shapes were drawn here and there, then a long thin rectangle joined to the biggest one by a bend- Oh!

Bitch could see it now, this was the room past the corner. Taylor, no, Runt had done a good job scouting. Even Brian nodded at her when she drew a bunch of 'x's on the map, nods were usually good.

"Those are the empire guys?" Grue whispered, getting a canine nod in return; "They're armed?" Got him another nod and Runt pawing at the air and make little huffs each time, like a gun.

Looking closer, there were two crosses in the middle circle and five more around the edge of the room, between the two big rectangles. Furrowing her brow, Bitch bit her lip and tried to figure out what that meant. If she asked the others they'd just think she was stupider than they already did, maybe an inner wall?

"This a balcony dork?" Regent saved her from looking dumb, which saved him from being punched for insulting her friend. Runt gave another confirmation and they were quiet for a minute, all of them examining the map closely.

"Right." Grue pointed at her, then at the circle in the middle of the map, "I want you going for these two Bitch, take them out as quick as you can. Don't stop when I kill the lights, don't let them press anything. Understand?"

"Ye-" She croaked, quickly clearing her throat and finishing, "Yeah."

He kept pointing to them each in turn, sending Regent after the two furthest from the entrance, then giving Tattletale and himself the two closest. Then he stopped, not pointing at anything, not talking, just for a second or two before he took a deep breath and pointed at Runt, then to the final cross, "You go after this one."

Just when she thought that he might be being nicer to Taylor, Grue reached down and grabbed the paw she'd been using to draw. Bitch barely held back from hitting him. Grinding her teeth while he said, "And be careful, okay Taylor?" Like she hadn't just proven herself by scouting. Asshole.

They stood up and suddenly it wasn't the time to be angry with her leader. No, she had a much better target coming up and with the power she'd been feeding them her dogs were almost ready to shed their old skin. Boney spurs already pushed through to begin their armour and they were just big enough to ride for a short while, if she kept her legs tucked up on their back.

At the corner they paused, Bitch climbed on Angelica and nestled herself into a good position. She reached into her coat pocket and found one of the little bottles there while Grue reached a hand up and extended all five fingers.

Four.

Her pulse sped up, blood thumping through her veins.

Three.

Angelica tensed in response, ready for the command.

Two.

She could feel the others behind her, not just the dogs.

One.

Moments like these, all her friends felt the same.

A fist jabbed down and Angelica shot around the corner like a rocket. The warehouse was huge, tall, dimly lit and ringed by an old balcony two stories up. Across the room a skinhead lounging on the railing saw her. She glimpsed stairs as Angelica wove between towering rolls of rotten paper and strange machines stinking of rust, Bitch saw the target ahead and whistled a command as she tossed the bottle, shouts just starting to ring through the empty air. Then everything went black and cold and silent, Angelica not slowing at all.

The pounding of paws on the metal floor was gone, Bitch knew it didn't matter. The floor was still there and she could still smell that nasty fucking smell. Which meant her dogs could still find their way to the bottle she hadn't heard break. As long as it had broken.

There was no warning, just an impact and meaty thud she felt even through the dark. Bitch grabbed the struggling body that Angelica had pounced on and rolled off her dog onto it. She found an arm and a hand and a gun it was holding, then she slammed the hand against the floor before the fuck could get their bearings, feeling the crack and the loss of the gun's weight.

An elbow came out of the dark and sunk into her gut, pushing the air out of her lungs. Bitch didn't give a damn, grabbing for the neck and wrapping her arm around it. The blows kept coming but only a few hit her, most finding air or harsh metal in the darkness, but they kept coming until Bitch was sure she had fucked up in copying Brian's hold. Slowly her opponent was getting better at finding her, until one hand caught a handful of her hair and she knew he was about to break her nose.

Then something knocked his head to the side and he went limp in her arms.

The light returned in an instant, revealing Grue standing above her and a skinhead slumped over her. Her leader was panting, his fists clenched and his head cocked to look at the man she kicked away, ignoring both of them to look for the dogs that she found just a few feet away, piled atop another skinhead.

They were on a circular platform in the middle of the factory floor, a control panel sticking up from the edge within arm's reach. Its base was smeared with blood.

_'The dumbass must have fucked up his knuckles punching it.'_

With a snort, Bitch hauled herself to her feet and took a look around the factory, wrinkling her nose at the continuing stench of...paper? Whatever.

The others were fine. Runt was up on the balcony, a huge wolf standing proudly over a little lump of clothes that wasn't moving; Regent was wandering along the wall towards a pair of spasming skinheads; and Tattletale was at the top of the stairs nearest the entrance, her taser twirling through her fingers while she pulled something out of a pouch.

A leather glove was thrust in front of her face, holding a pair of zip ties. Looking along the arm she found Grue's painted skull and nodded. Not bothering to take what he'd offered as she walked over to her dogs and whistled sharply. All three dogs scrambled away to stand behind her, revealing their target curled up and whimpering.

He looked bad for a second, then Bitch realised most of the blood was coming from a pathetic little head wound and kicked him in the chin to put him to sleep. Her dogs had barely broken the skin of his arms and legs as they wrestled him down and Bitch couldn't understand what had cut his head until a particularly strong waft of aniseed drew her attention to the shattered glass he was lying on top of. What was left of her bottle.

This time she had to hold in a laugh, rolling him over and pulling a couple of her own ties out of a pocket. She had his wrists and ankles bound in a few seconds, then grudgingly shoved a dressing onto his head.

Together she and Grue dragged them clear of the elevator just as the others jogged onto it. No, just two of them were jogging, Regent was walking behind and twirling his fancy stick. Grue barked at him to hurry up while Tattletale walked up to the elevator controls and Bitch checked on Taylor.

Her friend was a bit scared, but mostly she looked proud of herself and bore Bitch's scrutiny without complaining. She didn't look hurt, but then Bitch knew she could heal anyway. It was just...nice, to check on a friend after a good fight.

"Everyone ready, 'cause I found the button." Tattletale called them back to business. Though Bitch took another moment to check her friend one last time.

They gathered close to the controls, Bitch and her dogs furthest from it, then Regent and Tattletale, with Grue and Runt by the panel. She couldn't see him, but Bitch knew Grue would be taking one last look around the tied up thugs. Making sure they wouldn't get away before he said-

"I'm hitting the button, be ready." -that.

The floor shuddered beneath them and something heavy _clunked_ below the floor. Then the elevator began to go down, slowly dropping them into a metal walled shaft and leaving the factory above them.

Tattletale began to mutter after a minute, "This is taking too long."

"Yeah," Regent replied, "This thing is fucking slow."

"No...that's not it, we should have already reached the basement." She gestured in the corner of Bitch's eye, pointing to the riveted and rusted walls around them, "This isn't right, it should have gone down one floor but we're already past..."

She trailed off when a patch of smooth grey metal appeared at the base of the wall, being revealed more and more as the elevator kept dropping. Until they could see the entire thing, as wide as the platform, curved and smooth and-

"That is way too fancy for this dump." Regent whispered. Then Angelica stepped forward and they all froze at the door sliding open on silent bearings to reveal a long hall that was equal parts raw stone, rusted clanking pipes, and sleek metal. It made Bitch think of a mutt who'd had a show dog for a parent. Caught between ugly practicality and beauty.

Then two skinheads stepped in front of the doors and ruined the effect.

They didn't even have time to shout before darkness coated one and the other went down with Regent's taser stick in his gut. Grue leapt for his darkness, and bounced off the wolf that had had the same idea as him. He rolled out of the fall and dispelled the darkness in time to see the other skinhead shrink and twist into a bulldog. An angry one, with a smug wolf standing on its stomach and holding it down.

The smugness was gone a second later, Grue kneeling and almost headbutting Runt with how close he got to her. He hissed something Bitch couldn't hear and the cheer drained out of the wolf, then he kept going and she started to look scared.

Everything went red, her fists clenched tight and Rachel was about to start swinging when slender hand caught her by the shoulder. She turned, swung - _blonde hair, clinging and sobbing, afraid and sad and so so lonely_ \- and stopped with her fist barely an inch from Tattletale's nose. The thinker's eyes were fixed on Bitch's knuckles, her breath brushing the tips of Bitch's fingers as she relaxed her hand and let it fall to her side.

She turned back to face Grue and Runt, and focused on the hand on her arm to distract from her friend looking small and scared. It sucked...but Bitch was sure Grue would've gone over not going after each other's targets with her when they were planning the job. Runt'd fucked up, defending her wouldn't help.

It still seemed far too long before Grue reached out to pat Runt and the back and whispered something that made her perk up a little. Then he stood up and it was like nothing had happened, except Runt still looked kinda stunned.

Regent waved a bulky black radio to get their attention, not one of theirs. "My one was carrying this, how 'bout yours?" He looked back and forth between Grue and Runt with his teeth bared and Bitch fought to remember how he'd been before.

Grue distracted her by pulling another radio from his skinhead's empty clothes. "This is a military radio, not an old walkie like the guys up there had. Tat?" He held it out and she took it with some kind of scrunched up look to her face. She squinted at it for a while, then swore violently and pulled out her phone.

"No signal," She showed them the screen, "Which makes no sense with the shaft right above us. We're in some kind of jamming field, and these-" she gestured with the radio, "-are definitely tinker tech. Not from anyone I recognise either."

"Leet?" Bitch asked

"Nope. The radios maybe, but these walls were made by the same person in the same style, no way he'd build this for them."

"No way they'd let that moron into their base either." Grue growled.

"So we have an unknown tinker, probably working for the empire, and a secret underground base which we have no blueprints for? That about right?" Regent asked the air.

Whining drew everyone's attention down to Runt, who responded by cocking her head towards the door.

Grue sighed, "I'd ask if we're going to keep going but..."

Bitch spoke for them all, "We can't leave. We need the money." Nobody disagreed.

After bundling the guards into the lift, they set out into the tunnels beyond the elevator. Quickly finding a maze of sloping corridors with the same mix of stone, pipes, and tinker metal. Some were floored entirely in the metal, others were just stone with the occasional puddle-like patch of it. All echoed with the din of the pipes, making it impossible to talk quietly.

Bitch's dogs were on edge, uncomfortable below the ground and with the constant noise. She'd have been the same if it wasn't for Tattletale walking confidently ahead of them, picking a direction at each intersection with barely a moment's hesitation and happily ignoring the doors they found here and there.

Until she found one she didn't ignore, leading them into a large room with a bunch of cranes keeping the roof in shadow. Only looking at them did Bitch realise that the gentle light in the tunnels was coming from the strange metal, but Tattletale was hurrying to another door across the empty room and she had to follow quickly, back into tunnels.

Slowly the mix changed, from stone and metal and pipes, to just metal and pipes, then the rusted pipes began to look newer even as they multiplied until the tunnel was walled and roofed in them. Thankfully these were quieter, only to be heard by the rushing of water through them. Or whatever it was.

Then there was an end to the tunnel, a wall that the pipes disappeared into, and a square patch of the same metal recessed into it. Another door.

"Well this isn't ominous at all." Regent muttered, Grue elbowing him in the ribs.

"Tattletale, where the hell are we?" Grue whispered.

"The Empire's main stash?"

"You don't sound sure."

"I'm not. We're somewhere under downtown, I think, and this is definitely where those tunnels are meant to lead to."

Regent interrupted, "Last I checked the Empire keeps their goodies on the move, you're telling me they build a base like this every time?"

"No...no I don't think this is the stash at all."

"Then what the hell is it!?"

"I don't kn-"

Lisa went silent when the door slid open. They all did.

"I'm sorry." Said the gas masked figure lounging inside, "We were tired of waiting for you to come in."

Sitting around the same card table as Krieg, the other four Empire capes began to laugh.

* * *

 


	14. Bitch - 3

* * *

 

"Come in, come in. What hosts would we be if we left our guests on the doorstep?" Proclaimed Krieg, dropping a few cards to the table between him and the Undersiders, and gesturing magnanimously with his emptied hand. The motion drawing attention to the wide metal room he sat in and the doors lining its walls. A cluster of mismatched chairs sat around a card table in the middle of the floor, clearly out of place.

None of the Undersiders moved to accept the invitation.

The only woman among the Empire capes -wearing a tight red bodysuit and crammed into a battered loveseat beside a man clad in leather and black armour- spoke up, "Guests? All I see are a gaggle of naughty children." That got a round of laughter: A restrained snicker from the man with his arm around her; Deep chuckles from the tattooed and maskless man on a bar stool across the table from them; And an unrestrained belly laugh from the man standing behind Krieg in ornate armour.

Krieg laughed along with them, the sound distorted from behind the gas mask and peaked cap that hid his face. "Now my dear Othala, we can hardly call them intruders. Why we practically invited them in."

Bitch growled low in her throat, at his tone, his words, the trap that they'd blundered into. Then Tattletale joined in with the Empire capes laughter and she froze.

_'What the hell?! Why is she laughing?!'_

The Nazis trailed off into silence but Tattletale kept right on going, bending over and clutching her stomach. Bitch was ready to walk over and punch her just to make it stop when she finally started talking, looking up at Krieg with bared teeth. "Oh that's a good one. You invited us in? No wonder you're losing at poker, even with that mask on you can't bluff worth a damn."

Even Bitch understood the way Krieg went stiff and silent. She bared her own teeth to match her teammate. So it wasn't a trap, had they just walking into a lair that wasn't expecting them? And how the hell were they going to get back out.

Stepping in closer to the others, Bitch reached out with her power and began to slowly push more of into her dogs. Hoping that Tattletale would keep drawing the Nazis' attention.

"I hadn't heard much about you little thieves," Krieg spoke again, harsher now, "But I guess you must be Tattletale. Another Thinker who doesn't know when to shut up."

He snapped his gun up to point at Tattletale.

Regent snorted, "A luger? Really? Not even trying for subtlety huh?" Krieg's grip on the gun tightened with a creak of leather, and the other capes at the card table tensed, Stormtiger rolling his shoulder's with a snarl.

"Hey, hey." Tattletale stepped forward with her hands at her waist, palm up and empty. "There's no need for that. You're here to guard something, something important to the Empire, and we just strolled right through your security."

They got even more tense, Krieg's finger slipping inside the trigger guard. Bitch grabbed Angelica's by a bone spur and braced to be dragged along with her. Then Tattletale took another step forward and put her hands to the back of her head.

"Easy!" She urged, "Calm down. There's no need for that." Once they'd relaxed a little she kept going. "Now like I was saying, we got in this far, but we're not going in any further. We didn't know this was something important, we just came to steal a bit of dirty money is all."

Krieg lowered his gun ever so slightly, speaking in the same smooth voice that he'd begun with, "Oh that's all is it?"

"You know how it goes. Nothing personal." She looked around and sighed, "Now since it turned out to be a lot more than that, I guess we could have a fight right here, in conditions that a tactician like you must know favours us, or..."

Krieg lowered his gun all the way and cocked his head to the side, "Or what?"

"Or we could just write the whole thing off as a test of your security. We turn around and leave, and you don't even get charged for us showing you where the holes were. Everyone wins, or at least nobody loses which is almost as good."

"Fuck you!" Stormtiger growled, kicking away his bar stool and taking a step towards them. Only for Krieg to hold up a hand to stop him.

"Well that is an interesting proposition, and surprisingly so coming from a group with your reputation." This time it was Bitch who tensed, Grue stiffening beside her. "Certainly you're right that I am a tactician and am aware that fighting here would favour you four, and those beasts of yours."

He rose from his chair and leant forward, resting both hands on the table. Then he snapped his head up and spat, "Pity you didn't think it all the way through you arrogant little whore."

Then Bitch heard it, almost hidden by the distant clanking of the pipes, footsteps in the tunnel behind them. A lot of footsteps. She spun to look behind them, though only Regent and Runt looked with her, the other two keeping their eyes on the capes.

Krieg kept going, "As soon as we heard you outside the door Crusader sent one of his ghosts to gather the soldiers from the factory. All of them. Now how do you think a fight will go when you're attacked from bo-"

_thmp_

Krieg stared at the little black thing that Tattletale had lobbed onto the table. The grenade she'd been holding behind her head. Then he shot her and dived for cover.

Or he tried to, his hand jolted to the side as he fired and Stormtiger roared in pain, clutching his arm. Krieg fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs and then a cloud of darkness engulfed the enemy capes.

"Run!" Grue commanded. Bitch didn't hesitate to do it. Whistling sharply and letting Angelica drag her towards the door Tattletale was sprinting for. Regent was almost keeping pace with her and looking back she saw Grue not far behind- _'Shit!'_

Runt wasn't running beside her other dogs, the black wolf was stiff and shaking; standing just inside the doorway, eyes wide with fear. Before Bitch could yank Angelica into a turn Grue skidded to a stop and ran back towards her, yelling, "Keep going!"

Bitch kept her eyes on them, trusting Angelica to keep going and Brutus and Judas to follow her. Something pinged off the floor near Runt, then Grue slammed into her and heaved her up onto his shoulders. His looked down the tunnel behind her, voices and footsteps now echoing clearly from it, then he hurled himself away from the door and-

"Bitch!" Tattletale yelled, pulling her attention back to the front and the door that the slender villainess was trying to open. Messing with some panel she'd pried open beside it, full of little wires and lights. It wasn't opening, so Bitch guessed what Tattletale wanted and whistled two quick notes then pointed to the door, pouring as much power into Brutus as she dared.

Tattletale dived out of the way and he smashed into the door like a train. Only to bounce off it with a whimper and very slight ringing sound. He'd barely dented it. "Fucking tinkers!" Swore Tattletale, burying her head in the tangle of wires again while Bitch checked that Brutus was okay.

Before Bitch could look to see how Grue and Runt were doing, a figure stumbled out of the cloud of darkness, a man wearing a leather coat and pants, with a black breastplate and a mask with an ornate 'V' worked into the design. He brought up a bulky gun and opened fire, bullets making a trail across the ceiling when Regent gestured sharply at him.

Except instead of fighting the way his arm was seizing against his chest, Victor twisted with the motion of his arm and his other hand lashed out like a snake with a handful of blades. Metal flashed through the air towards them and then was hidden by Judas' bulk as the dog (now the size of a small horse) jumped between Bitch and Victor.

Whatever Victor was going to do next, another cloud of darkness cut him off as Grue slid to a stop amongst them, Runt still on his shoulders though Bitch could see she was calming down. Grue dropped her without ceremony, whirling to face the door they'd come in by and dropping more darkness right as a skinhead with a machine gun was sprinting into the room. By the way the gun clattered out of the darkness and along the floor a moment later, Bitch guessed he must have tripped.

For a few moments the only noises were her dogs breathing heavily as she pumped them all up to Brutus' size, and the scratching of Tattletale's attempts to get the door open. Then a blast of air shoved her off Angelica's back as the darkness in the middle of the room vanished.

Krieg, Crusader and Othala were all on the floor, only the first two looking like they meant to be there. Meanwhile Stormtiger was standing with one foot on top of the armchair, the other on top of the table, and the air around him spinning in a tightly focused tornado. It amplified his voice as he screamed, "You didn't think I'd figure out how to beat your trick Grue! You think your power's worth shit against me!"

He snarled and the air rippled around his arms. Then his legs kicked out in different directions and he fell off the table, knocking cards and cash everywhere.

Even as Stormtiger fell though, Krieg was standing and raising his gun, Bitch could already see Stormtiger moving and if he blew away the rest of the darkness they'd be fucked. Crusader stood and pulled Othala to her feet, then snapped his arm out to the side, a row of ghostly duplicates sliding out of his body.

Bitch got ready to fight as long as she could, then Tattletale shouted behind them, "Got it!" and the door slid open. They retreated into the top of a stairwell, Judas and Brutus staying between them and the gunfire even as Bitch gritted her teeth at what those bastards were doing to her dogs! They got through and the door slid closed again, the gunfire becoming a distant _ping ping_ noise.

"Just a second, I think I've got the hang of this. Yah!" Tattletale shouted and stepped back, shaking one of her gloved hands, but she was nodding at the same time. "That'll stop them opening the door for a while, but the Tinker who made it has to be somewhere in this place so we need to move."

"Right." Grue said. "Our exit's blocked so we need a new one, or we need leverage to get out past them, Tattletale, is the Tinker inside here somewhere?"

It took a few moments for her to reply, and she was holding her head as she said, "This place is new, the Tinker who built it is powerful, limited but powerful, yeah, yeah they have him on lockdown in here."

Grue nodded at them all. "Okay, then we grab the Tinker and use him as a hostage, or to tell us another way out." Then he pointed down. "He'll be down there somewhere I bet," Tattletale nodded, "Let's move."

They rushed for the stairs and began to climb down. Bitch taking the stairs two at a time rather than riding Angelica down the tight confines of the stairwell. She'd cracked ribs trying that kind of thing before.

Three flights down, a girl's voice spoke from amongst behind them, shock sending Regent stumbling down the last few stairs of that flight. "What about reinforcements?"

All eyes turned to the black wolf and found a girl dressed in a black bodystocking standing behind them. Except after blinking a few times Bitch realised it wasn't any kind of clothing, but a thick layer of fur across all but her head and hands.

Tattletale spoke first, "Runt?"

"Yeah, I, I think I'm okay with this form, what about reinforcements?"

Regent began a wolf whistle, then cut himself off and said, "What about them?"

"If reinforcements come, more Empire capes, won't we be trapped? Shouldn't we fight our way out now? While we have a chance?"

Bitch found herself agreeing with Runt, even if it was weirding her out a whole lot to see a human being whose feelings made sense. All it would take was a few more capes and they'd be too outnumbered to get away, even with a hostage. They'd get hurt bad in a fight with those odds, but they might at least survive.

"No, they have those radios remember?" Tattletale replied, "Those things can reach the surface but they used Crusader to get the troops. The only reason that makes sense is if those radios reach much further than the paper mill. Krieg's afraid that if news gets out before we're dealt with, Kaiser will lose trust in him."

"That's it." Bitch growled. Suddenly angry at the girl who got them into this whole mess. "You walked us into this shit and now you say that we should keep trusting you? Why the fuck should we?!"

Regent stepped between them as Bitch tried to grab Tattletale. "Hey! We don't have time for this crap. Grue, which way are we going?"

They turned to Grue for a decision, and Bitch felt a lead weight drop into her gut. He was slumped against the wall, a dark red stain trickling down the metal behind him.

"Shit!"

"Grue!"

"Are you-!"

"I'm fine." He lied so badly even she could tell. "Krieg just got a lucky shot off is all."

With a little gasp, Runt clutched her hands over her mouth. "While you were saving me. That's when you got shot, isn't it?" Runt padded towards him. "All because I froze."

Grue groaned as he stood up straight, bracing one hand against the wall. Then he looked down at their newest member and said, "Don't worry about it. Your first time out and that's what we come up against? Anyone would freeze up," He reached out and patted her on the shoulder, "It happens. Just don't do it again, please."

He stumbled forward, catching himself on Judas' side. "Tattletale's right. A guy like Krieg, he cares more about his position than anything else. We stick to the plan and grab the Tinker."

Bitch growled, already imagining the shit storm that could be coming for them. Grue's hand shot out and took a handful of her coat, dragging her towards him and forcing her to look into the skull painted on his helmet.

"Bitch, we're going down." He said evenly.

He was injured. Weakened. She could take him out easily...

Bitch dropped her gaze to the floor and nodded. Commanding Judas to stick beside Grue while Tattletale handed Runt a bunch of bandages and waved her in his direction.

There were another five flights of stairs before they reached the bottom and another door. Tattletale immediately set to work on the panel beside it. Getting it open in less than a minute and revealing a long corridor to yet another door, only this one had a camera above it.

Grue had a patch of darkness over it in an instant, but Tattletale still sprinted down the corridor and Bitch was right behind her, dragging Grue onto Angelica with her. They slid to a stop at the door, and Bitch found she could hear something on the other side. Someone yelling, loud, then she forgot all about it at the sound of a lot more yelling from back the way they'd come.

"Tats, you said that door would hold." Regent moaned.

"Shut up! This one's harder. And I said it would hold for a while. The Tinker must have overridden what I did to it."

Bitch got ready as the sound of boots thundering against stairs grew louder and louder.

"Well maybe you want to go close the door we just came through, by us more time." Regent kept talking. Tattletale didn't bother answering him, and it paid off a few seconds later when the door slid open and they piled into...

Bitch had never seen a Tinker's lab before.

Tattletale leapt to get the door closed behind them, but since she couldn't help with that Bitch took the time to look around.

Everything was made of the same smooth metal. Not just the room itself, but everything in it too. The shelves full of machine parts that flanked the door; The huge vats -at least three times her height- that filled the wall on her left, as well as the pipes that came out of the roof and connected with them; Even the bed that sat against the far wall and the long L-shaped workbench that ran along the wall and divided the room in half lengthways.

Actually not quite everything. Looking closer she realised that there was a curtained off area near the bed and the curtain was just the same colour as the metal. Plus there was the mess that covered the workbench and the pile of cloth that sat beside it shivering...huh?

It took a moment for her to realise that it wasn't just a pile of clothes. It was a cape, short and fat and huddled against the workbench, shaking violently as he stared at them.

There was a computer in front of him, but he wasn't touching it. He wasn't moving. He didn't even look like he was breathing.

Bitch almost laughed. They'd actually made it to the tinker, in their own lair! Now there he was, the Empire scum, shaking and almost pissing himself at the sight of them. She stepped forward and laughed outright when the coward screamed and staggered back from the bench.

"Please don't hurt me!"

With Brian slumped against one of the shelves, and Regent and Runt trying to shove the other one in front of the door, Tattletale walked up past Bitch and laid it out for him.

"So long as you do what we say, you won't get hurt. I promise kid."

He kept staggering back, one hand trailing along the worktop. "I'm sorry to doubt you, b-but why would I trust you. You're, you're here for me aren't you. To take me!" With that shout he snatched up some kind of gun, covered in blinking lights and made of even more of the strange metal. "I refuse, I won't g-g-go!"

Tattletale just sighed dramatically and drew her own gun, heedless of the danger. Strangely, the tinker didn't pull the trigger. She kept it pointed down and towards the wall, speaking softly, "You're not going to shoot me."

The tinker smiled beneath the simple hood that his his face from the nose up. "Ma'am, do you really think an Empire cape would have a problem shooting a thief?"

"I think anyone would have a problem shooting a thief with a glue gun." The tinker froze, starting to stutter something when Tattletale pointed to his gun and said, "There's still some glue on the barrel, you're not fooling anybody. This one's real though," She waved her own weapon, "So come out from behind the bench and we promise not to hurt you."

"Much." Called Regent with a laugh. Tattletale turned slightly towards him, and the tinker grabbed for a pile of pipes and sheet metal. He pulled something out of it with both hands, Bitch shouted, "Look out!" and then Tattletale swept her gun up as he struggled to aim some kind of gun at her, so big he needed both hands and could still barely lift it.

The blonde drew first but instead of firing she yelled, "Drop it!" Then a streak of grey shot from the cannon and went straight through her, hurling her to the ground.

Rage blinded Bitch and she charged with a primal roar, her dogs loping ahead of her. He was already running, the cannon that killed her friend abandoned on the floor as he ran for his life. She slid over the workbench, grinning as he ran smack into the wall and almost bounced off. Her dogs were almost on him, then the wall slid open and she screamed denial.

"Noooo!"

The wall slid shut an instant before Brutus slammed into it, and refused to give even when all three dogs attacked it with teeth and claws.

"Stop it. He's already gone." Tattletale spoke from the floor, her voice slicing through the rage and leaving Bitch dreading the sight of her. She sounded weak. "That was his backdoor, a one way elevator straight to the surface."

She couldn't just stand with her back turned like a coward! Bitch forced herself to turn around and felt a fresh wave of fury at what she saw. Tattletale, no, Lisa's arm had been turned to stone. All the way from the tips of her fingers to her shoulder. A few feet away the shattered piece of a stone gun lay on the floor.

"Wait, you think-? Bitch no! I'm fine." Lisa yelled.

It took a few seconds for the words to register, then she blinked rapidly and cocked her head to the side. How the hell could she be fine?

"It doesn't effect living tissue. I just can't get up because my sleeve and glove are made of stone and I can't move my arm."

Bitch slumped in relief. "Then we shatter it, the stone'll be thin. No big deal."

"It's not her sleeve we need to worry about." Called Grue.

Drawn by his voice, Bitch looked at the door and saw a ragged patch now stretched across most of it. An uneven splotch of lighter grey. Stone, replacing the tinker metal that had protected them.

Lying on the floor with her free hand over her eyes, Tattletale moaned, "It probably didn't quite go all the way through, which is why they're not already in here, but as soon as the tinker makes it to the surface he'll call it in and..." She didn't need to finish. An inch or two of stone would shatter with a good kick, let alone what they'd throw at the door.

Regent and Runt had given up on pushing the shelves in front of the door, now they helped Grue to his feet and the five of them gathered in the middle of the room. Nobody spoke. They all knew how fucked they were.

Except, Bitch thought, there was one thing. Something Grue had said they weren't going to do.

Now she had to convince him different. "Grue," She started, trying to think of what to say, fumbling for words and-

"Grue, we've got no choice." Tattletale interrupted her thoughts. "I know you didn't want to do this but..."

"I'm not exactly worried about discipline at this point Tats." He said, voice low and quiet. "I don't mind, not with the alternative, especially if-" He groaned, "-it can heal a bullet wound, but..." He looked around them, barely holding himself up, and turned to face Runt "Can you really give us that much of a boost?"

Runt bit her lip and hesitated, staring at the ground. Then she looked up, she looked at Bitch.

"Not alone."

* * *

 


	15. terror

* * *

Frank didn't exactly know what was going on. Then again he usually knew even less than that.

He'd headed for the old paper mill on Jackson Street after work, just like always. Collected a weapon and some ammo from the armoury (really just a padlocked janitor's closet with the shelves stocked with guns) and gone where his senior told him to. Just like old times. Except the army had made him defend a government that turned around and let filth pour into the country, destroying the lives of regular Americans. The Empire wouldn't sell out the working man. It wouldn't promote some Jap instead of him, it stood for guys like him.

Least he could do in exchange was stand by a window and not ask questions about what he was guarding. Not like some of the other guys and their constant bitching.

His partner for the evening, a jittery little fuck named Jacob, was an extra special example of that lack of discipline. Just being around the guy made him long for the day when he'd done his time and could move up the ranks. Away from shitheads like Jacob who were clearly just in it for a discount on their coke.

Understanding the necessity of recruiting them didn't make him feel any better about it. If only the government didn't treat them like criminals, there'd be no need to take anyone who was willing to fight for the cause.

Frank sighed and ignored Jacob's attempts to start a conversation about the ball game a few days ago. Eventually the junkie shitstain realised that he wasn't interested and stuck to his post, giving him some peace and quiet at last.

The hours ticked by like they always did, slow and boring but with the dull satisfaction of a job well done. There was a brief commotion over a black out...or maybe a brown out? Frank killed a few minutes trying to remember the difference between those two while he kept his attention on the cracked asphalt outside. Unlike Jacob and his wandering eyes, Frank knew how to pass the time without compromising his watch.

In fact, he was just thinking of talking to one of the higher ups about setting up training sessions for the boys, get the junkies some basic training at least, when movement in the corner of his eye drew his gaze. Then he yelped and scrambled to the side. A helmet was coming out of the floor. Metal, but transparent, all misty and ghostlike.

The helmet rose into the air and Frank's fear turned to awe as he recognised the ornate Viking armour. All metal and leather, with a spear slung across his back in some kind of leather sheathe. This was one of Crusader's ghosts. This was a hero of the Empire.

Frank tried to salute and bow at the same time, fumbling both and settling for standing ramrod straight as the ghost finished rising out of the floor. It pointed at him and spoke in a quiet rasp, "You. Get the rest. Follow me. No radios."

Getting orders directly from one of their heroes, it was like a dream coming true, he'd literally dreamed of something like this happening. Well Frank wasn't going to waste the opportunity to impress his superiors. He snapped off a salute, no fucking around this time, and snapped at Jacob, "You get the guys from the east side, I'll get the rest and we'll meet back here."

"No." The ghost interrupted, "Meet on the factory floor, be quick." Then it was floating off through a dusty office towards the centre of the building.

Frank was about to run to complete his orders when a sweaty hand grabbed his elbow, immediately making him wish he'd worn a long sleeved shirt. Jacob looked even more pathetic than usual as he asked, "Uh, Frank, which way is east?"

Slapping his hand away, Frank pointed and resisted the urge to just shoot the dumb fuck, finger drifting to his safety and flexing against it. In the end he figured getting his job done was more important, but it was a close thing. What a waste of skin.

It didn't take long to make the rounds of the other posts, especially once he found the senior in charge of this shift and told him what was going on. Tom wasn't the best CO he'd ever had, but he certainly knew his shit. A few quick commands and Frank was joined by three more guys to spread the word.

He double timed, eager to be the first to complete his task, and soon he was urging the guys he'd gathered to keep up while they jogged down the delivery corridor. When he came out into the brighter lights of the paper factory itself, Frank had a moment to feel smug that he had gotten their first, then his stomach went cold with dread.

Everyone was down. Seven guys had been guarding this room. Trusted guys, given the last line of defence before the capes themselves, and they were scattered around like trash. Alive at least, but that didn't do a thing to stem the familiar mix of anger and fear rising in his chest. Someone had snuck in here and knocked out his boys, some shitty cape thought they could fuck with the Empire! No fucking way!

Checking his gun kept him focused until the rest of the guys arrived, almost twenty juniors like him and Tom keeping them all in line. Frank barely noticed his body falling into a parade rest as Tom and the ghost of Crusader stood in front of the crowd of men.

Tom started to step back, but the ghost held up a hand to stop him. Having heard firsthand how quiet the thing was, Frank wasn't surprised when it bent to whisper in Tom's ear instead of addressing them. He smugly held himself steady while the rest muttered amongst themselves.

"Men of the Empire!" Tom shouted, "In a moment you will follow me down below. Whatever you see there, you will not speak of it once you leave. Disobey and you will answer to Kaiser himself, Understood!"

It was all Frank could do to shout- "Yes!" -without surrounding the word in 'Sir's. His blood was up and he welcomed the next words.

"Follow my projection, do as you're told, and get ready to show some thieves what real justice looks like!"

There was no cheer, instead they rushed to cram themselves onto the elevator without shoving their guns into each others' guts, managing some semblance of order by the time the ghost hit the elevator button and they began to drop below the earth.

At first it didn't seem to weird, just deep...then he saw the door.

Frank had seen tinkertech before, in his last days in the army the stuff had just been starting to turn up here and there. This was definitely cape made. No real metal looked like this. When they passed into a tunnel made partly of the stuff, his respect for the Empire climbed another notch.

Those government weasels didn't have a clue. The Empire was building a base under the city and they didn't even know. What else was planned? How much did Kaiser have stockpiled and secured?

Following the ghost through a maze of tunnels, Frank wished that he didn't have to keep quiet about this place. If he could just show Dana this place he knew she'd understand. She's see why he'd thrown his lot in with the Empire. See that they weren't just some petty street gang out for power for the bosses.

Maybe in a few more years. With how long they'd been together he figured it would take at least that long for her to move on. He had plenty of time to show her the truth.

No matter where his thoughts went, Frank kept his trigger finger ready and his guard up. Which turned out to be pointless since they made it to an open door at the end of a long tunnel of perfectly formed metal, just in time for the morons running out in front to get swallowed by darkness.

The rest of them stumbled to a halt without getting more than the occasional arm and leg inside of it. Since the guys at the front pulled those limbs back unharmed, Frank figured it was just like a smoke screen. No vision meant they couldn't fire, but if they just waited for it to clear they'd have the scum right where they wanted them.

The ghost had vanished, but Tom was still there, glaring at anyone who lowered their gun or tried to lean against the pipes. Frank wasn't one of them, but he was starting to feel the burn in his arms and back when the darkness vanished in a gust of wind. An underground gust of wind. He knew every cape in the Empire and that could only mean Stormtiger.

Sure enough the cage fighter was standing right in front of the doorway, tattooed and muscled and not even wearing a mask. The air rippled past them as he growled and waved them into the room.

Frank got a glimpse of an overturned folding table, a couple of scattered chairs, and room that looked like some kind of futuristic lobby before the receptionist's desk was installed; Then the sound of gunfire wiped all that from his mind and he stepped up next to the guys firing -absently noting them as the ones who went on ahead and got swallowed by the darkness- and lined up on the door they were shooting at.

"Cease fire!" commanded a distorted voice. Frank had his finger off the trigger and his weapon across his chest before he even realised who it was. Krieg, the death's head cape himself. The Empire's contact with the rest of the movement. Dressed like an SS officer about to charge into a gas attack, the man looked fucking cool!

Behind him Frank saw Victor, wearing a long leather coat and black armour beneath it, a mask with a 'V' stamped on it covering his face, Crusader's real body, and Othala herself. Frank had a special admiration for the Empire's healer. The red-clad women had saved more than a few of the grunts he knew, not just using her powers for the other capes but even ground-pounders like him.

Seeing so many of his heroes, all gathered together, it was...it was...it was something. They looked just as amazing as he'd imagined from the glimpses he'd gotten of them, but watching Krieg pace back and forth while Victor messed with a bunch of wires beside the door they'd all been shooting at...they were weirdly normal.

Frank pushed away the treacherous thought. That kind of thinking was too close to disparaging them for his comfort. These were the people who fought for him and his, he owed them respect. So he stood straight and steady and waited for something to happen.

It turned out to be a long wait.

Well, really it couldn't have been more than a minute or two at most, but any soldier knew how long a wait could feel with adrenaline pumping through them. Eventually though, the door slid open, Victor quick-stepping back from it.

"Well done Victor!"

Victor shook his head smoothly, "It wasn't me. The kid must have done something from below."

"Even better," Krieg said, "That means they haven't reached him yet. Get down there and deal with our guests. I'll stay here in case they sneak back up."

Stormtiger rushed for the open door before he could say anything else, and the whole lot of them followed behind him. Crusader and Othala hung back, while Victor ran just a few steps behind Stormtiger. Through the door were stairs leading down and despite his drill sergeant's voice in the back of his head yelling at him, Frank took them two at a time and held his gun tight the whole way.

_'What did that black bastard know anyway?'_

Proving old Sarge to be full of shit, they made it to the bottom without a single weapon going off. Then Stormtiger turned and punched one of the boys full in the face with a scream of rage.

They all fell back from him, two guys dragging the poor bastard he'd knocked out cold. He kept coming towards them but Victor caught his hand when he pulled it back to swing again.

"Stop it." Snapped the leather clad man.

"The door's fucking closed!"

"I can see that, punching our own men isn't going to open it." He waved to Othala as she and Crusader came forward through the crowd of men, Frank finally getting into a position to see down the corridor at the bottom of the stairs and get a look at the tightly closed door at the end of it. He barely noticed the healer grabbing their unconscious man or the way he snapped awake a moment later.

Whatever was down here. Whatever they'd been guarding. The thieves had gotten to it. Frank couldn't blame the cage fighter for getting angry, they'd failed in the only job any of them had to do.

Shit.

"So what?" Crusader boomed cheerfully.

The other capes turned to him, but despite their obvious anger the big armoured man just chuckled and pointed to himself.

"We've got me. Storm just needs to tell me where they are and I'll send my boys-" He swept an arm out and a ghost appeared, drawing the spear from its back, "-in to get the kid free."

Victor held up a hand for a few moments, then nodded. "It's a good plan. Stormtiger, you know what to do."

Frank sure as fuck didn't know what he was doing, but he followed Tom's hand signals and got in position to fire on the door along with the rest of them. Othala stood halfway down the corridor beside Victor, both of them against the wall and out of the line of fire, while Crusader leaned against the wall opposite them. Then Stormtiger walked quickly to the door and pressed himself close to it.

It took a second for Frank to join the dots. Stormtiger was an aerokinetic, and sound was just vibrations and shit in the air. He had to be listening through the door, figuring out where the thieves were so Crusader could go through it and do whatever he was planning to do. Maybe use whatever was down here against them?

Crusader broke the silence after just a few seconds, "You done yet?"

"No!" Stormtiger turned and scowled at the armoured cape, "You want smell, I can do that easy, you want sound, that takes a minute."

Crusader started to speak again but Victor cut him off, "I'm sure quiet will help too."

More than a minute later, Stormtiger was still listening.

"What do you hear?" Victor asked, not sounding impatient despite the delay.

"...I don't know. It's weird, these doors are solid metal but the way the sound's distorted..." He turned away from the door, facing back towards them. "Hey don't the kid have that cann-"

_whaam_

Frank saw a flash of the door screeching along the floor towards them, Stormtiger wedged beneath it, and something looming in the ragged hole in the door, then the end of the corridor went black.

Tom screamed, "Fire!" and they emptied their guns into the darkness.

Frank remembered to aim high, and nobody was panicked enough to hit the capes to either side of them, but none of them could see where the bullets were going. The black didn't even ripple where they hit it, it just swallowed the lead and hung there. Until all of them clicked empty.

Practised fingers started loading another magazine without him thinking about it. Which was good, because when the black began to move towards them Frank was far too busy thinking about what the fuck was going on.

The gentle push towards them became a surge and the grunts around him dissolved into chaos. Everyone tried to get backwards, shoving and shouting until the whole crowd fell over with a chorus of pain. Standing at the front, still staring ahead, Frank was one of the few not sent sprawling.

Victor swept Othala into his arms and blurred ahead of the onrushing dark. The sight snapped Frank out of his daze and he began clambering over the fallen, helping up who he could, but prioritising speed. He couldn't help anyone if they got caught by whatever it was. Efficiency had him over the fallen, with half the guys in tow and ahead of Victor and Othala. Frank pushed them forward and screamed at them to reload while they ran, more than one magazine clattering to the floor as they tried to.

Behind them the darkness ate the rest, a few scrambling to their feet in time and one guy crawling forward with just his legs in the dark-

His eyes went wide and then his scream vanished into the dark along with him. He'd been pulled inside like he was tied to a truck. Frank screamed at his guys to go faster, the capes right beside them -and above them, he noticed Crusader being supported by a pair of ghosts- as they sprinted for the bottom of the stairs.

"Aah!" A woman shouted in surprise. Othala tumbling across the floor beside him as Victor -Frank glanced behind and saw- hit the floor looking like he was having a fit. A tear in the darkness revealed a massive silver eye, surrounded by fur that reminded him of the desert, looking out at them from the dark. Then the black shot forward again and Victor's cries turned into words.

"Go Othala! G-get out-t of here! Now!" He shouted, words broken up by the occasional spasm.

Othala was right beside Frank, staring back at the other man with wide eyes. She reached out for Victor, and Frank dared to grab her arm.

"Come on ma'am, we need to go!" He pulled her to her feet and took one last look back. What he saw made him glad he had.

Inches from the wall of black, Victor waited for it to come. Only before it reached him, Crusader dropped out of the air and grabbed him by the coat along with both his ghosts. Altogether they hurled the man down the corridor, sliding him along the floor to where Frank stood.

Grabbing Victor meant he had a clear view of Crusader being swallowed by the dark. One of his ghosts staying halfway out long enough for them all to see it wink out of existence.

The rest of the men were already at the end of the corridor, ready to fire back into the dark, but Frank refused to leave the man Crusader had saved. He pulled an arm over his shoulder and began dragging him. Immediately he knew that he wasn't strong enough, they'd never make it, but before he could second guess his actions a slender hand brushed his shoulder and the load lightened.

Together he and Othala dragged Victor's shaking body past the first of the men, who starting firing the second they were clear. Frank didn't look back to see what was happening focused on-

Victor stepped smoothly past them and it took a second of confusion for Frank to remember that the other cape was a healer. The black mask stared at him for a moment, then a leather gloved hand clapped him on the shoulder.

More screams cut the moment short. Again they were cut off and Frank turned to find the two guys who'd been shooting were gone, the black pouring out of the corridor like fog.

Victor's voice cut through the rising panic, "Men, with me! Get moving!"

Then the cape casually pulled a grenade out of his coat pocket, readied it, and hurled it into the dark. Frank didn't wait to see if it had any effect, and ran for the stairs with the rest of the men, realising a moment later that the capes were doing the same thing.

"Why are you running?!" Shouted a familiarly contemptible voice. Sure enough when he looked down the first flight of stairs, Frank saw Jacob standing at the bottom still, holding his gun loosely and smiling stupidly. "That was a grenade, like hell anyone survived that."

Darkness engulfed him and the bottom of the stairs before the moron could even scream. The rest of them went up as fast as they could, the dark rising like black water just a few feet below them. Frank was in the middle of the group, a few steps higher than the slowest when that man yelped and sprawled on the steps.

He began to scream, "My le-!" And was cut off.

Squeezing his eyes shut for an instant, Frank fought down the bile in his throat and kept going. His breath was getting harsher and harsher, but the top was just one more flight away and he couldn't let the darkness take him. He knew that above everything else. They couldn't let it take them.

As they climbed the last of the steps Victor blurred again, rushing past them and sliding to a stop inside the door and off to the side. Through the haze of panted breaths Frank remembered something about wires.

There was another scream but he didn't look back. They had just five and they had to stay ahead of the dark. Then the door began to close.

Victor blurred through the door and grabbed Othala. The two guys at the front of the group made it through easily, but the three of them at the back weren't so lucky. Frank sobbed out a breath, and grabbed blindly for one of the others, leaping and shoving with everything he had.

It took a moment of tumbling along the floor before he realised that they'd made it. Then a few ragged breaths before he remembered the third man. Turning slowly, already knowing what he'd see, Frank found two more shave headed soldiers, two capes, and firmly closed door.

There was no sound through it. No pounding. No noise at all. Just like the darkness had swallowed every noise that entered it. Which made sense, cause on the other side...

"Bitch's dogs must be a lot worse than anyone thought, but that won't help them get through this. We have until they figure it out, or convince our charge to open it. Krieg must have gone for help, but we can't assume they'll save us. Keep moving!" The last was barked as an order, and Frank was glad for it. He wasn't sure he would have been able to stop staring at the door for a request.

He checked his gun and followed the signals Victor gave. He filed in beside another guy he didn't know, the two of them in front of the capes, and looked back to see the other two soldiers falling in behind them. He didn't recognise them either.

Setting off into the less polished tunnels, Frank realised that Tom had been left down there somewhere. Only he couldn't remember when. Every time he tried to think back, Tom's face slid over every guy he had seen swallowed up. Had it been Tom on the stairs? Or at the end of the corridor? Had Tom been beside him when he picked a guy to yank to safety? Had he left a man he respected locked in with, with-

_'Snap out of it! Focus or you'll be joining him!'_

Frank forced himself to pay attention, looking around as they crossed through a large room -only the floors metal, with the rest bare rock and a bunch of cranes rigged against the roof, their beams keeping most of the stone above them in shadow- in what Frank guessed was a short cut. Ahead he could see a doorway and a tunnel that was at the wrong angle to see down it from the room. They had to be ahead of the thieves though, they'd moved quickly and Frank didn't see how anyone could know a faster route through this place.

Tapping his temporary partner on the shoulder, Frank slid around the next doorway with his weapon leading and-

Fur. An arm. A huge arm.

Then he was flying, the breath blasted out of him as he soared back into the room, hitting the ground with an explosion of pain in his back. Slender hands grabbed his arm in a death grip and warmth wiped out the pain but all he could think of was the screaming. His partner was screaming and this time it didn't cut off.

It was coming from past the doorway, around the bend of the tunnel, so he didn't understand how it could be so loud. Then there was a wet _crak_ and it got even louder, more animalistic, ragged and broken by sobs. Then it stopped, and Frank hated himself for how glad he was.

Victor pulled him to his feet, standing him at one corner of a rough triangle, with the other two guys at the corners and Victor and Othala in the middle.

"Honey," He said, like he was coaxing a scared animal, "I need you to focus, okay? You need to give us all invincibility. For as long as you can. I know it tires you out, but we're going to need it. You understand?"

The half-whispered, half-sobbed, "Yes." Made Frank want to cry. He held himself together though, reminding himself that the women poking his neck -and invincibility felt kinda like being a little numb all over- wasn't crying. She was keeping it together, a woman like Dana. He had to do at least as much.

Victor stepped past him, reaching behind himself and under that leather coat, pulling his hands out with a pair of the biggest handguns Frank had ever seen. The kind that usually screamed 'overcompensating' and broke a man's wrist if they fired it without a tripod. When Victor levelled one at the black creeping through the doorway they'd come in by, and fired it with a thunderous _booom_ and hardly a twitch of his shoulder, Frank realised just what invincibility meant.

For the first time, the darkness pulled back. Then there was a rattle of gunfire behind them and a subdued cheer. They must have driven back another of them.

The black crept forward again, Victor fired again, and again it pulled back. This time Frank put a few rounds in alongside him, enjoying the lack of recoil even if it threw off his aim. They could still win this. With the invincibility they could hold out and Othala would keep giving them more, surely she could last long enough.

A gasp. Just a little tiny gasp from behind them. Victor turned faster than him by a hair, and they both saw Othala wrapped in a long thick furry tendril, with the colours it almost looked like a fox tail. Then eyes flicked open along the length, varying in size from dinner plates to normal sized and every one of them looked right at them.

Victor's gun rose, and Othala vanished upward in an instant. Frank went to fire at the shape in the darkness, checking himself just in time as he remembered he might hit her as well. He opened his mouth to ask Victor what to do and realised that the cape had dropped to the floor in another fit of spasms and rigid limbs.

His head darted from side to side, finding the black creeping forward from the tunnel again, he let his gun hang by the strap and snatched up one of Victor's. Then, before he could fire a shot, he saw it.

A shape up above, in the shadows of the cranes. Almost human, but wrong, like an animal, like something from a movie, and so big that the shape struggling beside it seemed like a child. Then it leaned forward into a patch of light and-

Frank saw eyes, so many eyes, like its entire body was staring at him and smiling and laughing and then he couldn't- He couldn't. He sprinted for the first tunnel he saw that wasn't full of black and he didn't stop.

Every time he came to a turn he took it at random, not slowing a step. He barely noticed that he had one other man close at his heels. It didn't matter. All that mattered was getting away. If he could just get to the elevator. The surface. He'd go to his job and he'd never ever get involved with capes again. Just please, please! He just needed to get away!

Finally he recognised a junction, a sloping tunnel meeting two flat ones, and he made the turn that would lead to the elevator.

It was pitch black.

From ceiling to floor, there was nothing but the black. Waiting for them all along. Then it began to move closer.

He ran, rounding the intersection and running down a tunnel he'd never been in before. They hadn't taken this one on the way in, and when he looked forward Frank knew why immediately. Past the clanking pipes and rough stone floor, was a rusted metal door with an ageing chain and padlock securing it.

Grabbing the other guy, whatever his fucking name was, Frank tried to go back but the black was already there. Already blocking the way back, just inches away from his face. Then something moved inside it. No, something moved it, like it was smoke and being brushed aside by, by...

Bone, a great curving piece of bone. Just barely sticking out of the black fog, just enough for Frank to see the curve and stare up and up until he saw a gap in the bone, and within it a single eye, as big as his face. Like seeing it had flicked a switch, Frank could suddenly feel its presence in front of him. Something so big it filled the entire tunnel, and it was right there.

Wet warmth trickled down his leg. Then the black lapped over it and it was gone. Except...he knew it wasn't.

"Uwwaaaarrgh!" Frank roared and scrambled back, firing blindly into the darkness. The other guy followed suit and they both ran for the door while firing behind. The guns clicked empty and practised hands loaded his last magazine. Behind him there was the sound of someone falling against stone, and then nothing.

The door was right in front of him, just a few feet away and then he was there. He braced to put a bullet through the chain, and his finger went slack. Up close he could see a keyhole in the door too, and connecting door to frame. He'd never shoot through that much metal.

He pressed his back to the door and held down the trigger. Hosing the tunnel with bullets, blowing gushing holes in the pipes and kicking up stinging chips of stone. None of it stopped the dark from inching towards him. Then his gun clicked empty and all he could do was press himself tight to the door, the chain digging into his back.

The blackness was brushing his chest. He stared into it, into nothing, and he began to sob.

Something squeezed his chest until he couldn't breathe, and his world became darkness and pain.

* * *

 


	16. Bitch - 4

* * *

Rachel was dreaming. A beautiful, wonderful, perfect dream that she never ever wanted to wake up from. Where she was strong enough to protect her dogs, and she understood her friends, and they were her friends, she was finally sure that they were. She could see and smell and hear so many things, but it was nothing compared to seeing Lisa smile and knowing what it meant.

Usually she only remembered bits and pieces of dreams but if she woke up from this one, she'd give anything to at least remember it well.

Something slim and furry poked her in the side, and she turned to see Lisa looking concerned. The thinker smiled at her and crinkled her eyes in amusement, then a claw poked her in the fleshy vulnerability of her stomach, hard.

"Yelp!"

_'Ouch! Not a dream, not a fucking dream!'_

Growling in equal parts glee and annoyance, Rachel pounced. Lisa tried to scamper away but her ankle was snagged and the fox-girl was yanked into Rachel's arms. The bigger girl took full advantage of her size and the razor edged bone spurs that poked through her thick coat, gripping her relatively slender friend firmly and pinning her to the floor.

After a few seconds of half-hearted struggling, Lisa's tail beat her submission against the floor. A rapid _thum-thump_ that made Rachel wince. She'd seen the eyes that covered Lisa's body, didn't it hurt to smack those against a stone floor?

She rolled away and offered a hand to help Lisa up, careful to keep her claws from slicing her friend's wrist open. Pulling her up was a good chance to look at what the combination of powers had done to the thinker, catching details that she'd missed in the chaos of the hunt.

While she remained shorter than Rachel, Lisa still towered over the skinheads slumped around Victor's trembling body, and she'd had no trouble manhandling the Empire healer now bound to one of the cranes. A full grown man would barely come up to her stomach, yet she managed to look slender and delicate, her body maintaining a human's general shape except for the legs and head. Her fur and her face screamed 'fox', but the lines of eyes that swirled and branched and spiralled across her body were something all her own.

They were mostly closed, only thin lines in her fur showing the patterns that started at the corner of her normal eyes, with just a few lazily blinking open at a time. Except for the normal ones and a large eye near the tip of her long -very long- fluffy tail. Lisa kept that one open continuously, tail waving gently from side to side as the Thinker looked behind herself.

She was worried.

Not about anything nearby, the feeling was too vague for an immediate threat. No, there was something scaring Lisa. Something that scared her even now. Every line of her body gave it away, now that Rachel could finally see.

Nuzzling at her palm distracted her, and Rachel turned her attention to her dogs. Lisa wouldn't tell her what she was scared of, so there was no point asking. Instead Rachel let herself enjoy being taller than her dogs even with them boosted to the limit. So big that they scraped the walls of the tunnels and she could still hold them almost like they were normal sized.

They were confused by it. Used to the caution she'd trained into them for when they were boosted, they hesitated to push against her with any real strength, and submitted easily when she stroked them. Not a big deal. They'd get used to it eventually, and she could still whistle and gesture their commands.

Her hands weren't as nimble as Lisa's, and only Brian had more bulk than her, but her fingers still felt quicker than they ever had before. Thick fur with the same auburn shade as her hair did nothing to hinder her movement, and the jagged blades of bone that covered the backs of her arms and legs just forced her to be careful. It was harder to remember that they continued up her back and neck as well; She'd gotten stuck while they'd chased the Empire up the stairs when one of the curling horns crowning her had gotten caught on a pipe.

By the time she'd gotten free of that stupid tinker metal, even Alec was ahead of her, and Lisa had gotten the door open before she got anywhere near it. If they hadn't waited for her before moving in to crush the Empire's last stand, Rachel would have been furious.

Idly scraping her foot along the floor, gouging long rents in the stone, Rachel patted Angelica as gently as she could and tried not to be bored. Brian had yelled at them to wait, and while Alec and Taylor had ignored him, that wouldn't make him any less angry with the two girls if they did the same.

Alec was smart enough to get back to them first. He could maybe pretend like he'd never followed Brian, except he was bouncing around like a puppy and there was no way Brian would believe him.

He looked like one of those weird desert wolves from somewhere. The ones people said ate kids, not that Rachel bought that story. They probably starved the poor things and then left the kids outside. People always pulled stupid shit and blamed it on the dogs.

Looking at Alec she definitely didn't believe it, there was no way a dog that cute could do anything bad without being pushed to it. Being just a foot taller than Lisa and constantly hopping from one foot to the other, it just completed the effect that the rest of him started. Instead of the monsters the rest of them looked like, Alec was just a big brown and sand-coloured puppy that had decided to grow hands and stand on its hind legs.

Except for the odd dish shaped horns that stood out behind his ears. Oh, and the static making all his fur stand on end, that was pretty fucking weird too. Looking closely, she almost thought she saw a few sparks arcing between hairs...

Nah, couldn't be. Anyway it was dumb to focus on details when Alec's happiness was so fucking happy looking. She wanted to laugh just looking at him, especially once Lisa snagged a ragged bundle of fabric from him and Rachel recognised the tinker's tech as the fox-girl started sorting through it. She'd thought they'd only stuffed their costumes into the make-shift bag.

_'They better not have ditched my coat to make room.'_

"Awwwwoooooooooo!" A howl of pure exultation echoed around them. It continued for several seconds before the source burst into the room, cradling one hand to his chest and dragging a pair of limp bodies with the other. His injured hand was still dripping blood, but the ragged hole that Victor's grenade had blown through his palm had gotten a lot smaller.

Rachel had seen Brian's worry and fear the moment Taylor transformed him. She'd found herself regretting some of what she'd thought about him, and very glad when the shift sent a bullet bouncing across the floor. Then she'd used her own power, and Rachel had seen the rage. Rage like she'd never thought someone so cold could have in him.

She'd thought she hated the Empire -she did hate the Empire- but when Brian had been pulling skinheads into his darkness she'd seen a, a savage passion for the violence. Enough of it that she'd almost worried he might kill someone. Enough that she'd almost been scared.

Almost.

Her boss was a pain in the ass, but he always had a plan and he always had control...and he did try to look out for them. He'd fucking leapt on a grenade for them a few minutes ago, without a shred of hesitation. That had been enough to reassure her. Enough for her to admit she might have been harsh on him before. Maybe.

The guys he was holding had five broken limbs between them, but the scumbags were still breathing just fine. Brian tossed them down with the others and snorted down at the pile of unconscious Nazis.

The Undersiders' leader was still hard to read. Thick plates of bone covered his body, only exposing the chocolate-coloured fur beneath in a few places. Even his tail was covered, about six feet of overlapping layers ending in a heavy spike, but even beneath all that armour she could see the way he forced himself still. So still that he shook. Then the animal joy was shoved down and he began snapping off orders.

"Woof! Awoof, bark!" He voiced disapprovingly. Not that the tone made the sounds understandable.

Rachel had no problem seeing the annoyance that swept over Brian as he realised that his mouth was the wrong shape to make words. Since the transformation hadn't granted them the power to talk to dogs, which Rachel would never ever admit she'd been hoping for, none of them could understand the orders. He grabbed his head with his good hand and snarled, annoyance starting to boil over into anger.

That was when Taylor scampered out into the room from the same tunnel Brian had used. All eyes turned to the last of their number as she skidded to a halt and looked back at them with dawning guilt. Her attention lingered on Brian and she sunk into a submissive posture, her form blending into the shadows in a way that made it hard to focus on her. She whined piteously, without a trace of the exuberance she'd had a few seconds earlier.

Then, right when Rachel was bracing to defend her, Brian surprised her again.

Instead of snarling at Taylor for disobeying, or grabbing her, or hitting her, or any of what Rachel had expected...he sagged with guilt of his own. He padded over to her far more softly than Rachel thought possible, and patted Taylor gently on the back. After a while, she stopped whining and stood up, cautiously optimistic and then outright relieved when his anger stayed gone.

Standing beside the stark bone that covered Brian, Taylor was more visible. Rachel estimated her at just a few feet shorter than Brian, if a lot more slender, but it was hard to judge her build beneath the sleek darkness that was her fur. Long dark hair that seemed black at a glance, but shifted colour when Rachel looked right at it. It was still dark enough to be near black, flowing subtly from grey to green to brown to blue until she found her focus had skated off into thin air over Taylor's shoulder. Which did make it easier to see the way her hair writhed and contorted in defiance of the still air, making it even harder to grasp her shape.

Brian stepped away from her and looked around at them all. Then he began making a strange circling motion in the air, before jabbing his hand at the middle of the circle.

When nobody moved, except for Lisa who was still sorting through the makeshift sack, Brian buried his head in his good hand and glared out at them from between his fingers. Rachel had no idea why, it wasn't their fault that they didn't know what he was...

Her thoughts trailed off sheepishly as she remembered him lecturing them on hand signals. Except she hadn't been paying attention, and neither had Alec, and Taylor hadn't been there. So it was kind of their fault they didn't understand.

After a little more grumbling, Brian perked up and began waving his hands again. This time he pointed to each of them in turn, then to himself and barked, "Ah! Ruff!" Then again, "Ah ruff!"

Realisation dawned on Rachel and when he repeated it a third time she could almost hear his voice, _"Here!"_

Then he poked a claw at each of his eyes and pointed at Alec, "Raow!" He did the same again, but pointed at the piled Empire grunts instead of Alec, _"Look!"_

It took a bunch more tries before they were all following the command to his satisfaction. Then, before Brian could come up with another one, Lisa mimicked him - _"Look!"_ \- and waved her sack of loot at them. Once they were all focused on her she tossed a handful of parts on the ground and stomped on them, hard.

With that Lisa swept the bag up onto her shoulder and grinned a vulpine grin at them all.

"Victor! I have the tinker secure, he reports that the door to his lab is weakened. Reinforcements will be here soon so you must take care of the thieves immediately! Do you hear me? Victor!" Krieg's voice came from Victor's coat, so clear that Rachel would have sworn he was in the room with them. "Victor! What the hell is going on down there?!"

 _"Here!"_ Brian called to them, then he turned and ran for the exit with a howl that they all understood the first time. _"Follow!"_

Rachel held back a moment, rousing her dogs and whistling for them to run behind her. Angelica needed a comforting rub to her side before she would do it, so Rachel was far behind the others when she slid into the tunnel.

Their scents sung to her nose that they'd run ahead. Rachel howled her acceptance of the challenge and leapt forward. Her hands caught the ground and her legs followed through into a four legged run that would have broken a human's fingers like toothpicks, her thundering pace eating the distance ahead of her.

Alec appeared as she skidded around a bend in the tunnel, loping along lazily at the back of the group and taking up most of the tunnel's width. Snorting happily, she jumped to the wall and propelled herself into a horizontal run. Her momentum didn't last long, but she was able to overtake him before gravity pulled her back to the floor.

Behind her there was a scuffle and she looked back to see her dogs crowded behind him. They shoved and nipped at his heels until finally Angelica tried to climb over him and Alec snarled and accelerated into a proper run. He was faster than she expected and Rachel yelped in surprise before increasing her own pace, barely staying ahead.

Running as fast as they could in the tight confines of the tunnels, frequently bumping and scarping against the sides, it didn't take them long to catch up to the others. Lisa was at the back of their trio, Taylor in the middle and Brian charging at the front. His bulk was slowing them down a little, and Rachel found herself having to slow down to avoid slamming into Lisa.

A heartbeat later, Alec landed on her back. Somehow he avoided impaling himself on her back spikes and managed to grip her shoulders around them, yipping in triumph from his new perch.

Bouncing a few feet into the air scraped him along the tunnel roof and put an end to that mischief.

Brian vanished into a room ahead of them, then Taylor, then Lisa, then Rachel saw the column of empty space and recognised the elevator shaft. They were almost out. Except that looking up she could see the elevator was up, blocking off most of the light along with their only way out.

_'Fucking Krieg.'_

skreeeee

Rachel slammed her hands over her sensitive ears and snarled at Brian when she realised what he'd done, scraping his claw-tip along the rusted metal walls. He cocked his head at her in amusement, then rammed his claws into the wall. They punched through the old metal like tissue paper.

 _"Follow!"_ He howled. Leaping at the wall and digging in with all four limbs then starting to climb. The rest of them followed and Rachel knew her dogs had enough experience doing the same thing with brick and stone.

The elevator had seemed sturdy when they rode it down, holding her growing dogs easily. It buckled with Brian's first punch and tore by the fourth. He tore the hole wider and burst out onto the factory floor with a howled challenge.

Rachel followed, tense and ready to fight, but she met only the echoes of their battle cries and the dull sounds of the snoozing skinheads they'd left behind them...how long ago had it been? It couldn't have been more than an hour, but it felt like weeks, a lifetime, like a completely different girl had ridden Angelica into the stinking hall.

As she relaxed, Rachel became much more aware of the smell. It absolutely fucking stank, she'd had no idea how bad it was before. Her ears tried to distract her with the sounds of her friends' distress -Lisa sounded like she was gagging, about to vomit- but her enhanced nose refused to allow it.

Brian called to them and every member of the Undersiders rushed to follow him straight towards the wall. All of them trying to focus through the thick stench of rotting eggs. How the fuck did paper smell that bad to make?!

Rachel was confused when Brian started climbing the wall, until she glanced over to the way they'd first entered the factor floor and realised how much smaller the corridor looked now. It would be a horrible squeeze if they fit at all. So she called for her dogs and began to climb the wall too, tearing great rents in the cinderblocks that made up the wall.

Finally they reached the roof and all of them simply tore through the thin sheet metal, clambering out onto the top of the building. The roof dented alarmingly beneath Rachel's feet, but it looked to be able to hold their weight, barely.

In the open air again at last, Rachel threw her head back and basked in the wind that swept through her fur. The night was dark and cool, and the sea breeze diluted the smell with the scent of salt and deep water.

With her new nose, Rachel could pick through the sea smells like never before. It was like she figured putting on glasses must feel, like everything had been blurred together and now she could tell all the parts apart from each other. She had no idea what any of them were, but there they were.

Her eyes and ears were almost as awesome to take in the city with. The dark places, where streetlights were broken or cut off from power, or just hadn't been built, she could see a bunch from the roof and now she could actually see more than vague shapes in each spot. As for sound, she could hear the waves and the distant traffic and voices and much closer traffic...wait.

Rachel perked up, noticing that the others were doing the same. Alec was the first one to find where the sound of approaching vehicles was coming from, creeping up the roof on all fours and peering down the other side at a street with at least a dozen cars speeding down it. Towards the mill.

As if that wasn't enough Lisa growled and pointed to a lump of concrete hovering above the cars. At least three people on top of it, but Rachel couldn't make out details this far away.

It didn't matter, flying meant capes, definitely the telekinetic fuck and probably some heavy hitters. Looking at her friends Rachel knew they were in no mood for another fight. She turned to Brian to try and tell him ho they felt, and froze when she found him staring right at her.

He held her with his gaze, blinking slowly once, twice, then turning away. He glanced around, then pointed to where the warehouse roof they stood on transitioned to a flat office roof, and beyond it to the other side of the fence that enclosed the mill. Another office stood amongst the more common warehouses, it took Rachel a second to recognise it as the same building they'd watched the mill from earlier that night, and by then Brian was already accelerating into a run and howling at them to follow him.

Alec was right behind him with a howl of his own, and Taylor followed close at Alec's heels. Rachel noticed Lisa fumbling with the loot bag and offered up the spikes along her back for the fox girl to secure it to, then she pushed the other girl into a run and the two of them tried to catch up.

They'd just made it off the warehouse roof when Brian hurled himself out into the air ahead of them, soaring over the street and landing in a weirdly quiet roll on the office roof. Alec and Taylor followed easily, but Lisa was still hesitating, slowing down a little.

_'She thinks too much.'_

Rachel whistled to Judas and Brutus to hem her in, then she commanded them to follow her closely as she sprinted the last few steps, stomped down on the -already damaged- edge of the roof and leapt for the other side.

For a few endless seconds, Rachel flew.

Then she slammed into the office building and tumbled head over heels through the thin layer of darkness that sat above the gravel roof. As her vision cycled from sky to roof to sky to roof and back again, she caught a glimpse of her dogs landing easily on the roof and Lisa crashing chest-first into the edge and scrambling to pull herself up, whining and yelping all the while.

A wiggling arm was offered to her, dark and writhing.

She shook her head until her eyes started focusing again and grabbed Taylor's hand in her own. Her fingers were thicker, but Taylor's slender digits felt a bit longer. Also some of Taylor's fur was twining around her arm, slender hair exploring it like something Rachel had seen on a documentary about coral reefs. Weird.

Once she was on her feet the fur let her arm go easily, it was all thin and silky anyway, no chance of restraining anything. Shrugging, Rachel bent to gather the scattered contents of the bag she'd carried. Odd bits of machines and loose clothing. Lisa snatched up her belt with a huff when Rachel reached for it, the thinker grumpily taking over the task, rubbing at her chest and moaning the whole time.

Down below the Empire's convoy sped through the gates in the fence and screeched to a halt on the asphalt outside the mill. Rachel could just make out Krieg standing all stiff and military-like in front of the lead car.

Oh yeah, that was definitely Kaiser getting out of the car. She snorted and moved to get a closer look at the imminent humiliation, but a bone coated arm held her back. Brian growled quietly and pointed to the flying lump of concrete that was now close enough to make out Rune, Cricket and Abwehr on top of it, and it was getting closer.

Lisa was suddenly tense with worry, grabbing Taylor and Alec and pulling them with her as she made for the opposite side of the roof. She easily jumped the alley to the next building -a warehouse that smelt of processed leather and plastic- then turned to gesture frantically for them to follow her. They were all quick to follow the thinker.

Almost a block later, with another big jump looming ahead of them, they finally stopped and took another breather. Lisa took the opportunity to secure her burden properly on Brutus' back, and Alec cheerfully sat on the edge of the roof with his legs kicking at the air. Rachel settled for lying back and staring at the stars, calling her dogs (the ones not having things tied to their backs) over to lounge with her. She could see more stars then she'd ever been able to in a city before, but it still wasn't a patch on the views when she'd been travelling cross country with her dogs.

She could still hear traffic and distant voices and all kinds of noises that seemed to fade away. The night was peaceful and things were good. Better than she could remember them being, ever.

So of course that was when she heard a scream.

A woman's voice, loud and shrill. Annoying. Rachel sat up and looked around for something to cover her ears with until the noise stopped, and found that Taylor and Brian weren't on the roof any more.

Rachel threw herself to her feet, following Lisa's gaze to where they'd descended to the street and were sprinting for the alley where the screams were coming from. Alec shrugged and pushed himself out into the air, then Lisa jumped down after him; which just left her; up on the roof; alone.

Growling her annoyance, Rachel hurried after her friends, her dogs close behind.

By the time she made it to the alley the noise had stopped. Not just stopped, cut off completely in the middle of a scream. Sure enough she grabbed the corner and pulled herself around to find a chest high -on her- wall of black fog, which made it well over head height for anyone she'd ever met.

She waded through the darkness towards where Taylor and Brian were holding two limp people, with Alec and Lisa crowding around them. As she got closer Rachel could see that one of them was a well-dressed woman -snoozing the dead sleep of someone who'd passed out- in the crook of Taylor's arm, and the other was a guy with Empire tattoos and dislocated arms dangling from Brian's grip. She pushed between Alec and Brian and got a better look, sniffing at the bloody gash along his cheek and snorting a laugh when she realised his jaw was broken.

Beeping from Taylor was enough for Rachel to lose interest in the man even before Brian dropped him to the alley floor. Her friend had gotten the woman's phone out of her pocket and was holding it on the palm of her hand while she used her pinky to tap out a number on the screen. Eventually she got the right three numbers and they all leant in as the dispatcher said, "911, what is your emergency?"

Taylor looked around at the rest of them, getting equally helpless looks back.

"Hello? Are you able to talk?"

"Rowr?" Taylor attempted.

The dispatcher didn't like it. "Was that a dog? If this is a prank call then you should know that I am tracing this number and you'll be in serious trouble when the police get to you."

Before they could flail around any more, Alec leant in close to the phone and winked at the rest of them. Then he opened his mouth and screamed like a little girl.

Okay, maybe a little girl with a very deep voice and a throat injury, but Rachel was still impressed. The dispatcher said, "Hold on ma'am, I'm sending police to your location right now." Then they kept on talking, asking questions that Rachel paid no attention to. Taylor gently put the woman down and tipped the phone from her palm onto her stomach, and they could finally leave.

It wasn't fair, she'd been too late to do anything more interesting than staring at the aftermath. As they clambered up the fire escapes, Brian cancelling his darkness beneath them, Rachel got more and more annoyed that she'd missed the interesting part.

Then she smelt something among the urban smells that she recognised. Something tangy and chemical and nasty: Something that could only mean one thing.

Whistling at her dogs to stay with the others, Rachel leapt up to the roof ahead of them and immediately shot off towards the smell. She dropped to all fours for maximum speed and ignored the questioning sounds the others were making far behind her. They'd understand in just another minute or two.

Reaching her target, Rachel dropped into another alleyway and dug her claws into the wall to slow her fall. She lost just enough speed that, when she landed behind the dealer lurking in the shadows below, the woman wasn't sent stumbling by the impact. Instead she turned slowly, reaching for a gun in her waistband and shrieking at the top of her lungs when Rachel engulfed her head with one hand and picked her up.

She considered the dirty woman kicking and screaming in her grasp. Looked like another of the Empire's, with that dumb half-way shaved hair they liked. The dealer got her gun out while Rachel was wondering what to do with her, and she emptied the stubby revolver into Rachel's side. Which really fucking hurt!

Barely remembering to pull the punch, Rachel swung the side of her other hand into the dealer's gut and dropped her to ground where she started retching and trying to curl into a ball. Looking down at her gave Rachel a feral rush of satisfaction, of superiority. Enough not to care that it felt like a swarm of bees had stung her.

She began to think of all the other gang fucks out there. The ones who stood on corners and in alleys, sneering at her when she walked her dogs. The ones she'd always had to ignore.

Feeling along her side, Rachel found the bullet holes beneath the fur just as her side cramped painfully and the lumps of metal she could feel just under her skin were slowly squeezed out. By the time that questioning barks demanded her attention from above, one bullet had already popped out of her side and bounced along the ground. Barely a minute to heal it.

She climbed back up and kept ignoring them, instead grabbing Brian's hand and looking at it. The fur hadn't grown back yet, leaving a pink patch of shiny skin in the middle of his palm, but that was it. A half hour to go from a hole blown right through his hand, to no real damage.

Rachel tossed her head back and howled to the sky. Letting every last one of the fucks know what had begun. Then she grabbed her friends, all of them still confused, and pulled at them until they followed her. She could already smell another one.

The hunt was on.

The second dealer was brought down by Alec. He leapt across a road while the rest of them were climbed down to cross the dark street, and was already crawling down a wall above the oblivious shithead when they caught up. This time it was a merchant, filthy, stinking of old food and fresh piss. He'd stood there tapping at his phone while they looked on and Alec clung to the wall above him.

Alec had stared at him, really stared, like he was trying to see through him, and the dish shaped bones behind his ears had split and spread out while his fur almost crackled with static. The merchant fell to the ground in a fit, hurling his phone at the wall and bashing his legs on the dumpster he'd been leaning on. Shaking and puking while Alec cackled above him.

After him they'd come across a pimp kicking the shit out of some guy, shoving him to the curb and raising a leg to stomp on him. Lisa caught him with her tail and yanked him up to where she clung to the frame of a shattered window. His eyes were covered and his arms held tight to his chest, but Lisa just held him there and opened every eye that faced him. They'd all watched as she examined the struggling man for nearly half a minute, then she'd suddenly jabbed him with her taser. The device held delicately between two claws.

Then it had been a pair of muggers.

Then another dealer, ABB this time.

Then they'd found a few guys with Empire tattoos stumbling out the back of a bar.

Then a merchant stuffing guns into his trunk.

The hunt led them from one side of the city to the other. Slowly gaining confidence until they bounded from roof to roof almost half as well as her dogs did. Racing each other to find the next prey, then gathering to crush it.

By the time Rachel started to feel weird, they'd gotten more than a dozen of them. Enough that she was imagining an old dream when she stumbled and nearly pitched off a roof. Her suddenly numb leg snapped her out of the daydreams of shelters and her own territory, and just as suddenly she could feel it again...but it felt just a little slower.

 _'But I'm still feeding my power to us.'_ Sure she was starting to get tired, but not nearly as quickly as she normally would with this much use, it couldn't be her power... _'Fuck.'_

She saw the same realisation in Lisa, and the two of them hurried to corral the others. Pointing to Taylor and trying to explain with growls and waving. That they were running out of time.

_'Lisa said it lasts a few hours before they turn back.'_

By the time they made it back to the loft it had been at least two hours since they transformed, probably closer to three. All of them had been shaking and stumbling. Barely able to stay up on the roofs and out of sight. Finally they'd piled onto their lair's roof -which immediately creaked alarmingly- and resorted to ripping up a strip of the metal to let themselves in.

Alec was the first one through, flopping through and falling all the way to the ground floor with a huge _thump_. Once he waved that he was still alive, the rest of them followed more carefully. Only once they'd all gotten to the floor did Rachel hit the mental switch that reversed her power. Pulling it out of them all as fast as she could, thinking of the times she'd had to cut a dog out of the meat suits her power gave them, of being trapped like that with no one to help her. To help any of them.

Flesh sloughed off them all, already drying and shrivelling as it fell to the ground. With it went the strength, and the senses, and all the energy that had kept her going. Rachel collapsed into a pile of rapidly decaying bones and meat, passed out before she hit the ground.

* * *

Something tugged her upright. Her legs didn't want to hold her weight but they held her up until she managed to stumble forward. Looking to the side she got a glimpse of really dark hair, then her eyelids rebelled and slammed shut.

There were stairs, cold metal beneath her feet, and what felt like a towel rubbing at her. Then she toppled onto something soft and there was warmth and a pair of voices saying...something...

Rachel passed out again-

* * *

-and jerked awake an instant later in the bright light of morning.

Rachel found herself lying on one of the couches, feeling like she'd been woken up three days too early. After trying to drink a desert while someone pounded her head with a rock.

There was a blanket over her, the same worn patchwork that she always slept under, and Angelica was curled up on her feet. Brutus and Judas were lying on the floor beside the couch, there was a pillow beneath her head and -Rachel yawned and began to close her eyes- she was butt naked under the blanket.

Half asleep, Rachel turned her head at the sound of a squeak of...of...she didn't know what it meant. Hadn't she been fixed? It was too hard to think any more about it, instead she stared at Taylor as the girl sat up on another couch, clutching her own blanket and blushing bright red. Then she shifted a little and Rachel realised she was embarrassed. At being naked? Weird.

Taylor dashed for the corridor that led to their rooms, disappearing into her own by the time Rachel rolled her head to look that way.

_'Hey, Alec hasn't drawn a picture on her door yet. That's...something...'_

...

Taylor's door opened...a few seconds later? Hours? Whatever.

She was dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants, and she froze like a squirrel in front of Brutus when Brian's door opened and he stepped out of it just a few feet from her.

They stared at each other, neither of them talking. Through the haze of sleep Rachel remembered the last time she'd seen them both in the loft, the way Brian had talked to her friend. Made her feel bad. She'd kick his ass if he-

"I'm sorry!" They both blurted out. Making Rachel cock her head to the side. That wasn't what she'd expected to happen. Neither was them standing and staring at each other some more.

Eventually Brian said, "Hey, thanks for helping me get everyone bedded down."

Taylor laughed awkwardly, forcing it, "I'm just glad I didn't have to see Alec in the buff." Her laughter trailed off into more silence, then she bounced on the balls of her feet a few times and stepped forward. "You were right."

Brian took two steps back. "Huh?"

"You were right." Taylor repeated. "You were worried that I'd do something stupid, or I'd lose control, and I thought you were being an asshole but...I got you shot, and I completely forgot my power had a time limit and...I'm sorry."

She started to step away, but Brian caught her by the upper arm and said, "No, I, I mean, you..." He let go and jerked his head towards the stairs down from the loft. "You, uh, you fought Shadow Stalker right?"

Taylor stiffened, but managed to nod.

"How'd you like to beat the crap out of her next time?" Brian said with bared teeth, which was weird because Taylor went red and nodded instead of flinching away.

As the two of them walked past the couches, Rachel decided it was all too confusing for her and let sleep pull her down again.

* * *

This time Rachel woke up slowly, and after staggering over to the kitchen and sticking her mouth under the tap for a solid minute, she felt just awake enough that she'd never be able to get back to sleep. Even if her head still felt stuffy.

She shivered and remembered that she wasn't wearing anything. There was a cold breeze in the loft, coming from the strip of metal that looked to have been torn away from the rest of the roof. It was in roughly the right place, but the gap at the edge was rattling slightly with the wind.

Shivering again, Rachel went in search of clothes and found the loot bag from last night sat on top of their planning table. It looked a hell of a lot bigger now, big enough that she had to practically crawl inside it to get her coat and jeans. Only after she'd yanked them on did she think to look around for the rest of her team, her friends.

Her dogs were still sleeping where she'd spent the night, too tired to wake up with her. Lisa and Alec were sprawled on the rest of the comfy seats, also covered in blankets. Neither of them looked like they'd wake up any time soon, but now she was paying attention Rachel could hear the occasional grunt drifting up from the ground floor.

She wandered over to the stairs that lead down from the loft, flinching when she first stepped onto the cold metal of the steps. With a mental shove, she walked halfway down the stairs -far enough to see the abandoned machines on the ground floor- and sat down heavily.

_'What the...?'_

A square space about a dozen feet long on each side had been cleared. The heavy machines somehow shoved aside and the old floorboards swept and covered with pieces of old carpet. On top of which her leader and her friend were fighting.

Except she could understand both of them, and they weren't really fighting.

From what Rachel could see around her clothes Taylor still had normal skin at her neck and elbows, but from the elbow down it was fur and claws and she had wolf ears nestled in her hair. She lashed out with her claws and a dark hand caught her arm then twisted into a throw. She was tossed into the air and landed in a roll that ended in a crouch. Instead of pursuing, Brian looked at her with satisfaction and nodded approvingly.

The shirtless leader of the Undersiders was lightly coated in fur, the same dark-chocolate colour as his skin. His claws were shorter than Taylor's, but his hands were looked even bigger, out of proportion with the rest of him. Looking again, Rachel realised how strange that was, since he'd gotten bigger and taller than the last time she saw him, plus there were inhuman ears sticking up out of the side of his head too.

He held up a hand and worked his jaw for a minute, then said, "I like this one, but I feel kind of clumsy. Can you give me smaller hands?"

Taylor smiled and nodded, walking up and putting a hand on his bare arm. She squeezed a little, then his hands twisted and shrunk until they looked more normal. "That better?"

He flexed his fingers a few times, then threw a rapid series of punches at the air, "Yeah, this is good. Now let me show you that again, your rolls are really good for a beginner but you need to follow through more. If you get right to your feet you'll be able to dodge most follow ups."

Rachel settled in on the stairs, watching as Brian showed Taylor how to throw him, then demonstrated the roll every time she practised it on him. They slowly worked through several throws and grabs, with Brian occasionally stopping Taylor and asking for a tweak to the form she'd given him.

After a while, she heard Alec and Lisa stirring up above. Lisa saying good morning to Alec. Alec saying hi to Lisa. A rustle of blankets and then a shriek of horror from Lisa. Feet pounded on floorboards, then metal, then a door opened and slammed. All while Lisa screamed about horror and being struck blind, and Alec laughed.

Rachel cocked her head, then turned her attention back to the ground floor. Unfortunately they looked to be finished. She'd enjoyed watching them train, being able to understand what they were saying and feeling made it just like watching her dogs playing.

Brian picked up a pair of towels and tossed one to Taylor while using the other himself. Then he looked down, biting his lip, he was working up his courage to do something.

"Taylor." She turned at the sound of her name, meeting his gaze as he brought his head up, "You were right, I was being an asshole." He held up a hand to interrupt when Taylor started to talk, continuing, "I know that I said I was worried about you losing control, but I lost control down there too, and getting shot was only a problem because I didn't just ask you to heal me on the stairs. I..."

He looked away again, clenching his fists and speaking in a quieter voice, one Rachel had to strain to hear, "When you first got here, you reminded me of someone. Someone I have to protect. That was easy, it was easy to see you that way, as someone to protect. Only then you started to act on your own and suggest things and do things and...and be your own person. Which fucking terrifies me when my little sister does it, because she's just a kid and she's my responsibility, but that's got nothing to do with you..." He trailed off. He looked lost, and scared, and lonely.

Taylor crossed the gap between them and reached out, hesitating halfway, then awkwardly finishing with a pat on the shoulder.

Somehow it snapped him out of it, and Brian managed to look at her. Then he shook his head and finished, "You're not my little sister Taylor, and I was a ridiculous asshole to treat you like you were, just because you were beat up when you came here. You don't need protecting any more than anyone else on this team."

Taylor clutched her hands to her chest, looking up at him with enough hope that Rachel ached just to look at her. Brian looked back with a grin that made him look a lot younger, all the responsibility falling away.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry. And it's kind of a formality, but if you still want to join...the Undersiders would love to have you."

Brian extended a hand for her to shake, Taylor looking back and forth between it and his face. Like she wasn't sure if he was kidding or not.

Looking down at the two of them, Rachel was sure of one thing. The hug definitely caught him by surprise.

* * *

 


End file.
